Anonymous said...
Nearly every day I have thoughts of the family left behind and wonder how they're dealing with things after a little time has passed. I pray for them as often as I think of them. I thought getting rid of the guilt feelings would take more time, but I have to say that I am not feeling guilty anymore. I still feel a great sadness for the loss of life, and (most likely) the loss of eternal life of this particular person. I just keep praying that his parents, siblings, children, friends, etc. will come to know Christ and find comfort in Him. I want to be even closer to Christ in my thoughts, through reading His word, and in my daily activities so I won't miss the opportunity to pray for or witness to another person. I am thankful for the opportunity to continue growing in my relationship with Christ. I am also thankful for this way to ask questions and express feelings that I might not otherwise have the opportunity to do.
10:14 AM, March 16, 2005
posted by Dr James D Harless @ 3:44 PM
2 Comments:
It has been 7 days since you sent this question ... I apologize for my tardiness! I am a bit confused by the question! I am not sure if you are the one that has left or if you are the family that has been left! It sounds as if you are the one who left at first ... the guilt thing and the fear of loss of eternal life. But then you talk of growing in Christ, praying and reading your Bible! It is never too late to repent and return to the relationship with Christ you once had! If you are the one who has left ... you need to make restitution with your family! That does not mean that you will be going back to them. But you do need to ask forgiveness. There usually is a reason that God gives us guilt feelings! It is wise to find out and then respond. If you are the one who was left ... then forgive and pray for the offender! I know it cannot be easy ... but God provides the power to do it! If thsi is not clear enough to help ... then please respond again!
Again ... sorry for the delay!
I think the key phrase is, "I don't want to miss the opportunity to pray for and witness". If we seize these opportunities, we should not feel guilty. The problem is that we don't always take that opportunity to witness or we forget that we're always witnessing and our witness is not what it should be.
When we feel guilty about our witness, maybe we need to look at how we are witnessing. Ghandi once said, "I would have become a Christian except for other Christians". We may be the only Bible someone ever reads. We need to make sure that we are presenting a good and accurate version to others.
I feel that most of us recognize our sins of "commission" but have a harder time recognizing our sins of "ommission".
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