Shame: a painful feeling of inferiority or unworthiness due to one’s actions, thoughts, circumstances, or experiences, resulting in a mix of regret, self-hate, and dishonor.
As a self-conscious emotion, shame informs us of an internal state of inadequacy, unworthiness, dishonor, regret, or disconnection. Shame is a clear signal that our positive feelings have been interrupted. Another person or a circumstance can trigger shame in us, but so can a failure to meet our own ideals or standards. Given that shame can lead us to feel as though our whole self is flawed, bad, or subject to exclusion, it motivates us to hide or to do something to save face. So it is no wonder that shame avoidance can lead to withdrawal or to addictions that attempt to mask its impact.
Mary C. Lamia Ph.D., Psychology Today online, “Shame: A Concealed Contagious, and Dangerous Emotion.”
BEFORE
Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
Genesis 2:25 New International Version (NIV)
AFTER
…and they [Adam and his wife] hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
Genesis 2:25 New International Version (NIV)
“Who told you that you were naked?”
Genesis 3:11 (NIV)
Shame isn’t what God wants for us; that’s not the life Jesus died for us to have.
He died to deliver us and free us!
On hearing this [that He ate with tax collectors and sinners], Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Mark 2:17 (NIV)
Zacchaeus the Tax Collector
Luke 19:1-10
When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed
him gladly. All the people saw this and began
to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner.’”
Luke 19:5-7 (NIV)
Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Luke 19:9-10 (NIV)
Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman
Luke 7:36-50
A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at this feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
Luke 7:37-38 (NIV)
SHAME – is a confidence killer
Lay your shame at the feet of Jesus
Claim the life He wants you to have!
That’s the life Jesus died to give you. That’s the life you were meant to have.