Perfectionism

We often become perfectionists and so the guilt of what we perceive as failure is very painful.

A lot of us can identify with this. Even though we know much about God's forgiveness we don't seem to be experiencing it. For many of us the ongoing pain of guilt, even the guilt of not feeling forgiven, can cause us to think about, or actually abandon Christianity, which seems to encourage our guilt problem. In order to overcome a sense of failure, we may even say, "I've tried Christianity and it doesn't work. I cannot live up to its demands!" Perhaps what we are really unconsciously saying is, "I will not feel the guilt of failure anymore. If it doesn't work, then I haven't failed."