“For Shame!”



Ahhhh, those words!  I can remember hearing them from the adults in my life after I had done something wrong.  They carried such weight…such guilt. 

Articles on the Internet will tell you that the mild feeling of shame – that prefrontal cortex shift that recognizes when we’ve done something wrong, is how kids learn to shift themselves from “forbidden” to "acceptable" behavior...

Those same articles will say there is nothing wrong with calling a child out when they have done wrong, or with the resulting instinctive response to the correction, IF (and it’s a big IF), after the correction the child is then reassured.  This enables him/her to leverage the teaching, but still feel that they are a “good” person.

Sadly, that follow up is sometimes NOT part of the process, and instead of a loving reproach which helps instill the lesson, the child is left with the guilt of the punishment.  This causes the “shame” emotion to get all mixed up with the emotions we have when being punished – feelings of anger, feelings of unworthiness, feelings of being misunderstood.

----

We have all done things we’re not proud of.  Things that haunt us.  Things we’re ashamed of.  Maybe the “for shame!” admonition came from others, or maybe they are words that have simply been uttered by our own conscience…  However, just like the child in the above example, if there is no loving reassurance that follows, that shame can become toxic in our lives.

Enter - Jesus!  Jesus KNOWS you.  He knows the things you’ve done that have shamed you, and HE LOVES YOU ANYWAY! 

In fact, the whole reason we even KNOW about Jesus is because He came to take OUR PUNISHMENT for our “forbidden” (read sinful) behavior. 

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him and by his wounds we are healed. – Isaiah 53:5

So now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. – Romans 8:1

Jesus tells me that when I am feeling the echo of those words, “for shame,” I should remember that is EXACTLY why He came – FOR MY SHAME.  He that tells me it’s okay to let go of it, that I am forgiven, and that I am loved. 

If you are enjoying these posts, please consider clicking the FOLLOW button, or sharing this site with a friend.  Thanks.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Petition for Prayers

Image
Hi there - today is my 400th post and I am wrestling a bit... so I'm asking for your prayers. I started this blog o ver a year ago, convinced it was something God wanted me to do.  It was way out of my comfort zone, and certainly not something I’d have done 10 years before, but  I had hoped that i n some way, it might help people get closer to Him. I knew that once I had finally given my life to God, EVERYTHING in my life changed, and  I desperately wanted people to experience the same JOY and PEACE I have felt since making that decision.   As they say, “I was like a poor beggar telling others where they could find food”. For months, the posts flowed easily and I would feel the Holy Spirit's inspiration…the words on the page practically writing themselves.  However, I'm not sure that is still the case.  Sometimes I feel as if I am struggling to hear His voice, and I honestly don't want to be writing MY thoughts - I want to be sharing HIS. So, I'm going to t...
Read more

The Journey to the Cross (Day 4 - THE LADDER)

Image
In the city of Jerusalem stands a church called  The Church of the Holy Sepulcher.   It has been proposed as the place of both the death and resurrection of Jesus, and it has been a place for pilgrimages since the 4th century. Considered holy, the site is cared for by no less than six denominations including Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Roman Catholic, Coptic, Ethiopian and Syriac Orthodox.  As such, it has been carefully parsed out into sections.  And sadly, arguments and violent clashes are not uncommon. Jim visited the church once on a trip with Northridge and told me about "The Immovable Ladder".  Apparently the ladder is a " bizzare outcome of religious stubbornness pushed to extremes. " For " Sometime in the first half of the 18th century, someone placed a ladder up against the wall of the church. No one is sure who he was, or more importantly, to which sect he belonged.  The ladder remains there to this day.  No one dares touch it, l...
Read more

The Journey to the Cross (Day 3 - ONLY JESUS)

Image
Today’s Holy Week post has me thinking about the 12 disciples. ONLY JESUS Can you name Jesus' 12 disciples?  If you've been watching The Chosen or reading your Bible regularly, you might be able to.  However - there are some, who - at least for me, are a bit in the shadows. Sure I know Simon/Peter, and his brother Andrew .  And then there was James and John, the sons of Thunder (or Zebedee to be exact).  There was Matthew, and Thomas, and Judas Iscariot.  And there was Simon the Zealot, and another James...but...but...a nd here is where my mind isn't as good at remembering.   So I Googled it. There was also Philip - a Jewish man from Bethsaida who apparently was the one to tell Nathaniel (another lesser known disciple) that "The One" Moses and the prophets had foretold in the Old Testament, was here.  Following Jesus' death Philip became a missionary in Greece and for his outspoken faith proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God - Philip was stoned and...
Read more