Some have commented on references to sin in my last blog. Specifically, the phrase: “the stench of sin”, has triggered some annoying levels of guilt with some people. The words were described as “fire and brimstone” by one reader and as “Catholic guilt” by another.

Assuredly, getting stuck in guilt was not my intent. The purpose of the blog was to acknowledge the problem of sin and suggest a remedy: repentance, acceptance of forgiveness, and renewal of a right spirit.

Guilt can be healthy or unhealthy. Too much focus on sin leads to unhealthy guilt – an obsessive scrupulosity that handicaps people through overwhelming self-criticism. Too little focus on guilt, on the other hand, leads to self-serving behavior and gross disregard for the concerns of others.

Good guilt is a psycho-spiritual state of conviction that leads to repentance and acceptance of forgiveness. Daily victory over wrong-doing comes through acknowledging our weakness and our utter reliance on the power of God.

As influential psychiatrist Karl Menninger encourages readers in his book, Whatever Became of Sin?, “If we believe in sin – as I do – we have a responsibility for trying to correct it.” Correction starts with repentance and is lived-out through seeking a new way – a process, not perfection.

Menninger, Karl. Whatever Became of Sin? New York, Hawthorne Books, 1973.

In his devotional writings (1), Oswald Chambers urges us to seek spiritual cleaning that reaches deep into the cavernous recesses of memory and motivation: “The blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin – if that means in conscious experience only, may God have mercy on us.”

Forgiveness of sins in conscious awareness is only the start. We need a deeper cleaning that runs deep into the subconscious fears and desires that shape our behavior; a filing of the Holy Spirit that soaks into the muck that corrupts and washes away the stench of sin.

The influence of hidden motivations has been emphasized from Plato to the apostle Paul, from Freud to the apologist C.S. Lewis. The fact that wishes and fears beyond our awareness may shape our behavior is not new.

As the psalmist says: “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting”(2). We are challenged to welcome God into our subconscious struggles, to be changed in ways that we may not understand.

Like a magnet pulling a chunk of iron, God draws us to himself; then fills the God-sized hole in our souls with his power to choose pathways of holiness over the slippery slopes of self-indulgence. This sanctifying change affects both conscious and subconscious awareness.

Some sinful motives are healed in a moment of prayer; others persist as a source of spiritual conflict for a lifetime. Our nature to sin invariably rises again. Anxieties and drives buried deep in the subconscious seem to fight with desires to trust and obey. We need a lot of help.

Lord God Creator, I pray, sanctify my mind from the depths of my unconscious drives to the surface of my conscious awareness. Fill my soul with your presence and renew a right spirit in me.

Oswald Chambers. My Utmost for His Highest (January 9). Discovery House Publishers, Grand Rapids Michigan. 1935

Holy Bible. Psalm 139:23-24.