Have you ever felt guilty?  Are you still feeling guilty over something you did?  I think most of us have some specific instance in our minds when asked those questions.  In my own life, I think disappointing others drives my guilt.  I'm especially afraid of disappointing my parents.  Don't you hate the look they give you when you've done something you know is wrong and they've found out?  Sometimes they might not even look at you.  They might just look down and shake their heads.  Guilt isn't a pleasant feeling.

   Guilt can even cause physical symptoms.  Do the following describe you?  You have strange sleeping and eating patterns.  You're prone to ulcers and illness.  You tend to avoid eye contact, accountability, and vulnerability.  You might be taking some sort of mind-altering substance to avoid feeling guilty.  Time management is something you struggle with.  Sometimes you become very accusatorial, perhaps to take blame off yourself.  You're paranoid in many situations.

   Now go read 2 Samuel 11-12.  Like David, we've all committed sins.  There are three different ways we can handle the guilt afterwards.  We may choose to cover it up.  Look at verses 6-9 and verses 14-17 of 2 Samuel 11.  David tried to cover up his sin and guilt by having Uriah sleep with Bathsheba so that it would look like it was his child.  When that didn't work, David sent Uriah to the front of the battle so he would surely be killed.  After that, David accepted his sin and lived with the guilt, just like we might do.  David refused to repent; perhaps because he didn't feel worthy of forgiveness or perhaps he was just denying his sin.  Look at 2 Samuel 12:1-10 again.  Nathan had to allude to David's sin for David to realize how bad it was and so that he would understand that sin does have consequences.  Later on in chapter 12 we learn that David's first child dies.  In other parts of the Bible we also know that David lived in constant threat of murder, and his own house rebelled against him.

   However, the third way we might handle guilt is to be transformed and restored.  Read Psalm 51.  After Nathan confronted David, he cried out to God.  In verse 1, we learn that David humbled himself and admitted his faults.  He became broken before God.  Verse 3 tells us that David took ownership of his sin and its consequences.  David realized his sins' root was internal (verse 6).  In verses 10-11, he admits to God that he needed help and wanted to be created into God's liking.

   Ezekiel 36:26-27 says, 'I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.'  This is God's promise to you!

   So how are we transformed?  We must first give our lives to God.  We need to surrender our entire self to God, and then he can change us.  Think of Beauty and the Beast.  You know that scene toward the end where the Beast is transformed into a human?  That's kind of how it will be! Our ugly, sinful heart will be transformed, washed by the blood, and turned white.

   Transformation is the heart of Christianity, and we have power to get to the root of the problem.  We can be washed of our sins and again be found righteous in God's sight.  We don't have to live in guilt or concern of disappointing him.  In Acts 13:22, it says, 'After removing Saul, he made David their king.  He testified concerning him: 'I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.''  David committed adultery, and he essentially committed murder, but he was still named as a man after God's own heart.  This gives us hope.