Many of the negative emotions we feel, which are often guilty emotions, can be remedied by taking them to God’s Word. When we do so, we will often recognize that it is not God who condemns us but other people or ourselves. On the other hand, we may come to realize that we are breaking the Law of God at times. Beautifully, the solution in such instances is not cowering before the courts of man but boldly entering the Throne Room of Grace.

Being a human is difficult today. The older I get, the more sympathetic I am to such statements. I used to think our technological advancements meant we have it easier today than ever. In a way, it is true. Nowadays, we no longer need to wash clothes manually, endure days of delay for postal messages, tend to barn animals, engage in strenuous physical labor (for most of us), or sit through YouTube commercials (for a fee, which I do not pay).

But, in another more important sense, life today is extremely difficult. In times past, you did not have to work out your career with fear and trembling; it was given to you by your father or the person who owned the land you tilled. You did not have to worry about what everyone thinks about you because your life was not on the internet. You did not have the annual purgatory of tax season, with the threat that if you misstep one of the million words in the US tax code (which is more words than in the Bible), you will be harassed by the newly improved IRS. The worst part about today, however, is not these things. It is that we all feel guilty all the time.

Are you having a nice evening after a hard day’s work to the glory of God? Here is a commercial about a child with a cleft lip, who you are not helping while you sit and eat Cheetos, which scientists say will kill you tomorrow. Are you enjoying a nice walk out in God’s creation? There is that neighbor you keep ignoring who is going to hell, and it will be on you. Did you post something on social media that glorifies God? Look at all those nasty comments calling you a bigot. Spend some money on yourself, maybe a nice vacation? Why did you not go on a short-term mission trip instead? Or give that money to the poor who never have vacations?

Life was simpler when our destinies were set, and the internet was a glimmer in Al Gore’s great-grandparents’ eye. Today, guilt has worked its way into the Western psyche; just look at white social justice warriors—

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