Guilt is one of the biggest and most common human problems. None of us escape it completely in life - even if it is a more serious problem for some than for others.

The twinge of conscience we feel after eating cream cakes when we’re supposed to be on a diet - or walking on the grass when the sign says we shouldn’t - usually doesn’t bother us for long. But sometimes guilt makes us feel absolutely dreadful. We wake up in the night thinking. "If only I hadn’t done that…."
We re-live the moment again and again. We feel wretched and hate ourselves. But what can you do about this sort of guilt? The first thing is to realise where it comes from.

The Bible says that guilt is produced by our conscience, a human faculty everybody has which condemns or excuses their actions. It’s an in-built moral sensor, which God has implanted in us to warn us when we are going wrong.

But the conscience isn’t infallible. Sometimes it overreacts, and produces a sense of guilt, which is unjustified. And sometimes - as in the case of some psychopathic criminals - there seems to be no response at all to even the most vicious and brutal deeds.

The Bible explains that this is because we have turned our backs on God, and tried to operate independently. As a result, our minds have become darkened, and sometimes our instinctive sense of what is right and wrong becomes confused.

But a lot of guilt feelings are based on reality. We know we’ve done wrong, and we need forgiveness and relief.