DOGE 2.0

The United States cannot even afford the interest payments on its debt.

Wait… say what?

Yes, on top of accumulating debt for decades, the government must pay interest on that debt.

I know. It's insane.

But I’m not writing about money today. I’m writing about how guilt is the emotional equivalent of being in debt. And this is as big a problem for the individual as debt is for a nation (and an individual). But the good news is there is a solution: DOGE. No, not the supposedly controversial Department of Government Efficiency, but God’s Department of Guilt Elimination.

Guilty Consciences

Contrary to meme-ology, time does not heal all wounds. Years after a bad decision or an accident, people often battle with guilt. They either caused it, contributed to it, or were just fortunate enough to survive (survivors guilt). The most common form that people suffer from is simply the guilt of knowing they did something wrong. It was more than just a mistake (even though that’s what we often call it), it was a moral law that they violated, and their conscience won’t let it go.

People try to cope with it in many socially-acceptable ways: work, alcohol, relocating, etc. Others, unfortunately, fall into other not-socially-accepted ways: drugs, violence, destructive lifestyles. Studies show that guilt is a high cause of illness, both mental and physical.

Paul, a first century Christian, wrote about the powerful influence of our conscience to feel well or afflicted; innocent or guilty.

Guilt Elimination

It is possible to relieve a guilty conscience? Can it be permanent? Or are the moments of relief just those times where it isn't in the forefront of our mind because we are preoccupied by other things? Is it even possible to truly fix a guilty conscience?

The short answer is, yes. There is a permanent solution to guilt. However, it can be a complicated ball of yarn to unwind.

Guilt presupposes a moral law. You can either abolish the law and attempt to live guiltless in the anarchy that follows, or you can retrace your guilty path to the Law Giver. Even though your conscience condemns you, the ultimate judge over your actions and thoughts is God. In the end, it is only the violations of His law that warrant punishment. Your conscience is trying to warn you of impending doom when you face Him.

You can face Him now via Jesus. In Jesus your sins are absolved, absorbed, and forgiven. Yes, even the ones that still plague your conscience with guilt. Once you have accepted God's offer of payment and forgiveness of sins through Jesus' death and resurrection, you no longer owe God. "The wages of sin is death," the Bible declares. But Jesus paid that debt of sin, and now you don't have to.

Period. It's over. You're debt-free. Case closed. Mic drop. It is finished.

Yet, so many of us continue living as if we still have to pay off a hidden piles of sin-debt deep within the labyrinth of our souls.

"You can't. So stop trying," I once recorded in a song titled "Freedom."

God's promise is to not only pay off your sin-debt, but to also purge your conscience clean. This relieves you and makes you innocent. I know this reeks of "Well, if you tell people that then they will think they can just keep on living irresponsibly and sinfully." True, But Paul also dealt with that.

No person who actually receives forgiveness will continue to live with irreverence toward their newfound “immunity.” The people without a conscience will not receive the benefit of guilt removal and are thus not immune to God’s judgment. They're walking straight into it. They will receive the harsh, yet justified, penalty for their seared consciences.

They have a choice: respond to God and accept responsibility (face up to it, and request and receive forgiveness for their own decisions), or blame others and trap themselves in the vicious cycle of perpetuating the fraud and abuse of their behavior and treatment of other people. Until they do this, the waste disposal unit from hell destroys their soul day by day, relationship after relationship.

It is strange how people fear the thought of forgiving and forgiveness. They view it the same way some politicians view eliminating waste from government spending: either useless or terrifyingly wrong. They fail to perceive that the benefit is not just in reducing the relatively "small" amount of waste (compared to overall gov’t spending). Eventually, it has a remarkable, cumulative effect. The little amounts will add up to something material.

Additionally, it promotes accountability. It promotes responsible decision making. Forgiveness frees up emotions and energy and time to be devoted to other more meaningful and useful things. The worry and resentment are now replaced with thoughts, conversations and activities that promote peace and progress. And doing so makes the person accountable to better living. This person says to themselves, "I recognize that was a poor use of my time. I recognize that it was wrong for me to think and behave that way." This person is more likely to seek and implement improvements in other areas of their life. They are more likely to begin exploring how and why God may be interested in and able to help them in other areas.

This is the marvelous work of the Holy Spirit. This is why salvation is not merely a prayer. This is why the Gospel is so transformational. It effectively removes the guilt, and practically delivers us from guilty-living. It is for freedom that we have been set free.

Thank God for DOGE.