True Guilt vs. Distorted Guilt

The Best of You

Dr. Alison Cook

Mental Health, Health & Fitness

4.9 • 958 Ratings

🗓️ 13 March 2026

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Welcome to The Best of You Every Day. Today’s Scripture is: 2 Corinthians 7:9–10 Topics covered: The kind of guilt that heals The kind that traps you How to tell the difference Go Deeper: Episode 140: If You Struggle with Guilt and Second-Guessing Yourself, This Will Set You Free – How to Stop Blaming Yourself for Things That Aren’t Your Fault Read the first 3 chapters of I Shouldn't Feel This Way: Name What's Hard, Tame Your Guilt, and Transform Self-Sabotage Into Brave Action Connect with Dr. Alison on Instagram: @dralisoncook Join 80,000+ Soul Menders in Dr. Alison’s free email community for ongoing reflection and support. While Dr. Cook is a counselor, the content of this podcast and any of the products provided by Dr. Cook are not specific counseling advice nor are they a substitute for individual counseling. The content and products provided on this podcast are for informational purposes only. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everyone, I'm Dr. Allison. Today's scripture offers us a wiser way of being human as we step into the day.
0:12.1	Guilt is one of those words that can instantly tighten your chest. Some of us feel guilty all the time, like it's the background music of our lives. Others of us avoid it completely.
0:22.9	We push it down, distract ourselves, or numb out whenever it surfaces. But scripture makes a
0:28.4	distinction that is incredibly important for your emotional and spiritual health. Not all guilt is the same.
0:34.5	There is a kind of sorrow that leads to life, and there is a kind that slowly suffocates
0:40.6	you. Today's reading is from the message version. It's 2 Corinthians 7, 8, through 10. I know I distressed
0:49.5	you greatly with my letter. Although I felt awful at the time, I don't feel at all bad now that I see how it
0:55.3	turned out. The letter upset you, but only for a while. Now I'm glad. Not that you were upset,
1:01.7	but that you were jarred into turning things around. You let the distress bring you to God,
1:06.7	not drive you from him. The result was all gain, no loss. Distress that drives us to God does that.
1:14.3	It turns us around. It gets us back in the way of salvation. We never regret that kind of pain.
1:21.1	But those who let distress drive them away from God are full of regrets, ending up on a deathbed of regrets. In this passage, Paul uses the
1:30.8	language of distress, but in everyday life, we often experience that distress as guilt, that internal
1:37.4	signal that something is not aligned. So it's fair to say Paul is describing two kinds of guilt.
1:44.6	There is a guilt that jars us into turning things around, or in the NIV translation, leads us to repentance,
1:52.4	and there is a guilt that leaves us full of regrets.
1:55.6	There is a guilt that drives us to God, not away from him, and there is a guilt that quietly drives us into hiding.
2:03.2	That distinction is so important here, because guilt itself is not the enemy. It needs to be
2:09.5	examined. In this passage, Paul is clearly talking about guilt that comes from conviction after
2:15.7	real wrongdoing. He had written a hard letter. In fact,
2:19.1	Paul indicates he feels a little guilty about the letter. It caused distress. But that distress
2:25.5	jarred them into turning things around. It drove them to God, not away from him. And the
	...

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