Guilt,
or conviction, is what the Holy Spirit gives us, because he loves us,
when we do something wrong. He's trying to correct our behavior that
(1) is self-destructive, and (2) interferes in our relationship with
him. The message of guilt is, “I did something wrong.”
Shame,
on the other hand, is not from God, but rather is Satan's perversion
of godly guilt. Shame is the belief that I am uniquely and fatally
flawed. The message of shame is, “I am something wrong.” That's
the “flawed” part. In addition are the “uniquely” and
“fatally” adjectives of shame:
- “I am uniquely flawed.” No one is as bad as me. I am the only one with this problem.
- “I am fatally flawed.” I can't be fixed. My flawed-ness is permanent.
Shame holds so many
Christian's in prison, keeping them from living out their true
identity, or often even knowing it. But each of shame's three lies
described above get smashed to pieces by the Word of God:
- I'm not something wrong. I was made in God's own image (Genesis 1:27). I have been made a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), and God loves me apart from what I do (Ephesians 1:3-14).
- I'm not uniquely flawed; I'm not the only one like this. No temptation has seized me but that which is common to mankind (1 Corinthians 10:13).
- I am not fatally flawed. Jesus' blood is bigger and stronger than any and all of my sin, and by his stripes I have been healed (Isaiah 53:5, Romans 6:10, Hebrews 9:28, 1 Peter 3:18).
So who are you going to
believe?
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