During the pandemic shutdown a few years ago, mental health professionals talked about “lockdown guilt” and “pandemic guilt.” They noticed that those who were allowed to work from home, and those who continued to draw paychecks but weren’t expected to work at all, felt guilty because health care workers, truckers and other “essential” workers had to go to work and face the associated risks while they were safe at home. In truth, there was no reason to feel guilty; the government directed non-essential workers to remain at home. But these stay-at-home employees still felt guilty.

Some therapists compared that to “survivor’s guilt” – “I got through the war, but my buddy didn’t.” “I survived the accident, but the rest of my family was killed.” Survivors are greatly blessed in those situations, but they don’t feel blessed, they feel guilty.

That’s false guilt, not based in reality. There is, however, real guilt, and that’s the guilt that concerns the Apostle Paul when he writes Romans 8:33 – “Who will bring any charge against those God has chosen?”

Actually, there’s a long line of accusers.

People we’ve wronged stand in the line. The people we’ve lied to. Folks we’ve stolen from. Those we’ve used for sexual satisfaction and discarded. The guy we punched in high school. The friend we gossiped about. The older parent we’ve neglected. Each has a valid charge to lay against us and we would have to plead “guilty.”

Satan, whose name means “accuser,” also waits in line. Biblically, we see Satan working this way in the book of Job as he challenges Job’s faithfulness to God, alleging that Job is faithful only because God has granted him an easy life. Job weathers the resulting difficulties that come his way and proves that his devotion to God doesn’t just come from his “charmed” life. Sadly, many of us might fail the same test. We become easily discouraged when life is difficult, and we’re too quick to walk away from our commitment to God.

Most of us, though, don’t need to have Satan or anyone else accuse us; we’re well aware of our own sins and failings. While we might offer excuses concerning our treatment of others (“You have to understand how he treated me” or “I acted on the basis of the information available at the time.”) we cannot offer any legitimate excuse for entertaining thoughts of lust, manipulation or anger, nor for those times when our ego is out of control, meaning that even our good deeds are done for selfish reasons. We know how often we forget gratitude, failing to be thankful for the blessings God provides. We know how bad we are. No one else has to charge us; we’re ready to condemn ourselves.

That’s what makes Paul’s next few sentences so important. He asks, “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? And then goes on to say, “It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died–more than that, who was raised to life–is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Romans 8:33-34, NIV). If Jesus, the only perfect person who ever lived, gave his life as the sacrifice for our sins and is now “at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us,” then even the accusations of Satan himself, or the protestations of our own consciences, don’t matter. If Jesus decides we are “not guilty,” his verdict is final. Romans 8:1 reads, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

So if you are “in Christ Jesus,” there is no reason for guilt or fear. Are you “in Christ”?

Author Jill Caratini tells about receiving a traffic ticket that she knew she deserved. The officer, however, mentioned that the fine would be less if she showed up in court rather than paying the waiver. Caratini sat in a courtroom filled with guilt, but one by one, fines were reduced or charges became warnings. Caratini walked out of the courtroom without a fine that day, simply because she suffered the humiliation of showing up and admitting her guilt.

Being “in Christ” starts the same way. Admit your sin and your need for a Savior. Confess your belief in Jesus’ power, as the Son of God, to forgive sin. Wash away your sins in baptism. Live for Him. Get rid of the guilt.