There’s a third cause for a loss of passion in our lives.
3. An unconfessed sin
This is a big one. Few things rob us of joy, rob your confidence, rob your passion, more quickly than guilt. Here’s how it works with us with guilt, the sin in our lives. We don’t walk around thinking, “I have a sin in my life. I am a guilty person.” No, we rationalize it consciously. Consciously we think, “It’s ok. Everybody’s doing it. It’s no big deal.” But subconsciously it gnaws at us. Subconsciously whenever it gets quiet that guilt pops into your mind. Subconsciously right now as I’m talking about it, it begins to pop into your mind.
Here’s the truth about us as human beings. We cannot feel enthusiasm and guilt at the same time. You can’t feel guilt and passion at the same time because guilt by its very definition robs you of passion. Psalm 38:4&6 “My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear… I am bowed down and I am brought low.”
A lot of you work on computers. Anybody besides me ever had your computer crash? Sometimes they crash. They stop working. Some program tries to write the wrong thing to the wrong place and it’s gone! Guilt does that to us as human beings. We’re not made to live with guilt. God did not make you to carry guilt around in your life. He made us to deal with it immediately. He sent Jesus to this earth to die on a cross to say, I want to offer you a gift — freedom from guilt. That is God’s gift.
But some of you right now, you’re in the midst of a personal system crash. Truth of the matter is the joy in your life has crashed and you’re trying to keep the enthusiasm up, you’re trying to keep the passion alive. But the guilt keeps crashing your system. So what do you do?
Fortunately this is a problem that can be remedied quickly. You can do something about it right now. Because Jesus has already done all that’s needed to be done to deal with our guilt. That’s why He came to this earth.
1 John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins He [God] can be trusted to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” That’s His promise. To confess just means you agree with God. You just say, “God, I agree with You. It’s a sin. What I did was wrong. I agree with You. And I want to begin to live the kind of way You want me to live. Would You free me from this guilt?”
I would encourage you — do it now! Don’t wait. Sometimes we carry guilt around for weeks, months, days. You shouldn’t carry guilt around even an hour. The minute that you realize that the red warning light that’s flashing saying Do something about it. Not carry it. So right now in your mind, in your heart, take it to God and say, “I confess it. God, would You relieve me of this guilt? Thank You for forgiving me. Would You restore my passion?”
