Holding Shame
Romans 8:1,2 Therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.
Psalm 86:5 For You, Lord are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You.
Psalm 119:22 Remove from me reproach and contempt, for I have kept Your testimonies (This includes self-contempt!)
1 John 2:24-3:9
We are doing a disservice to God when we continue to feel shame for something when we have asked His forgiveness and truly repented for the action. If He has forgiven us, how can we feel we should hold it tightly and continue to beat ourselves with the memory, humility, and the burden of guilt. Jesus died to free us from our sins, and it is selfish in a way to cling to our guilt and shame if we have truly confessed it to Him and asked His forgiveness. He wants to free you, so you insult Him and His sacrifice by not accepting and freeing yourself of the guilt. If you need to apologize to soomeone for your actions, then do, but do not cling to the shame and guilt and negate His sacrifice for you and for us all if we believe.
Did He not send His son, Jesus, to be our complete way to forgiveness? By His death, if we ask Him to come into our lives, and forgive our sins, it is done. Not that our growth and striving to be more like Him is done, but God says, “Yes, welcome, my child.” He then offers us peace, rest, and a way to grow in love. We have the knowledge that we are forgiven. And we should act like it and not doubt, continuing to apologize and asking God to forgive. Yes, we are sinners, and we have done things that shame us. But how insulting it must be to God and to Jesus that we repent, truly ask forgiveness, then continue to hold onto our sin, shame, humiliation, and continue to feel badly. God has forgiven it; you insult Him by holding on to it. Hold on to Him and believe Him when He proclaims you are forgiven through the SACRIFICIAL DEATH OF HIS SON.
But if we hold onto our past fault/sin/shame then we doubt God’s words and promises. He offers a new life, but we have to be willing to take hold of the journey and learning the way to go. Our creator has given us the way to hand over all our negative baggage—not to forget it, but to grow in wisdom and learn from our sin, and then to become a true disciple, a follower and learner of Him, and a service to others.
It is sometimes so difficult for us to hand over our shame. I guess there are many reasons, but one is probably fear we really are not good enough, and God does not really want us (we’re too scuzzy, too bad, and too full of sins and hurts we have caused, just not worthy).
But those thoughts are SATAN’S lies, not God’s truth and promises.
The beast is insidious, sneaky and whispers these lies which our feeble human minds easily believe. Because much of our experiences have shown we have to improve our behavior to be loved or trusted, we therefore doubt we are ‘good enough’ and we put those conditions on God. But God is beyond all that. He gives unconditional love, direction, and the Way.
Those doubts are human (and reinforced by Satan) to pull us away from God’s love.
We need to truly hand over all ‘our negative stuff’ and believe we are forgiven, and then read His words, read repeatedly of His forgiveness, His peace, and His love. And try to reach ‘that stuff.’ Then we will be filled with thankfulness and the desire to be more like Jesus. It’s that simple. It’s only complicated because we hold so tightly to this negative baggage. Let it go, truly go.
This is the way I want to grow in ‘mybellaviews.’
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