If you deal with shame without guilt, your problem is the fear of man.
Ever Loving Truth Conference, 2016.
There is no contradiction between a present enjoyment of justification and a proper sense of shame about past sin. Both mark the maturing Christian.
Properly remembering our past sins with shame will deter us from repeating them and help us receive God’s saving grace. When we recall our failures through the lens of Christ’s mercy, God produces in us ongoing repentance and deepening humility.
We will give an account one day because we are accountable, and there is a standard. God is the One before whom we are accountable, and our lives will be compared against His perfect character. This is why we feel guilty, because deep down we know we are guilty. Our guilty feelings and sense of shame come because we have violated God’s good and wise commandments.
Shame…will serve [people] well in leading them to repentance.
This article originally appeared (https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/42-123/whos-ashamed-of-whom) at www.gty.org. © 1969-2008. Grace to You. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
And that’s really where it all eventually comes, this matter of who goes to heaven. It’s whether or not you’re ashamed of yourself or ashamed of Jesus and His gospel. That’s the issue.
This article originally appeared (https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/42-123/whos-ashamed-of-whom) at www.gty.org. © 1969-2008. Grace to You. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The gospel says, “Your shame is real, even more real than you know. But this is what God has done. He put it all onto Christ at the cross, where your Substitute was utterly shamed and exposed and condemned for you. Now your shame no longer defines you. What defines you, what reveals your future forever, is this word: ‘adorned’ [Rev. 21:2]. Not shamed. Adorned. Lovely. Attractive. And the moment is coming when He will look into your eyes with glad adoration, and you will look into His eyes with confident surrender. And nothing will ever, ever spoil it again.”
Blog Post: Ashamed, April 9, 2008, Used by Permission.
The biblical criterion for misplaced shame says, don’t feel shame for something that honors God, no matter how weak or foolish or wrong it makes you look in the eyes of men. And don’t feel shame for bad circumstances where you don’t share in dishonoring God. The biblical criterion for well-placed shame says, DO feel shame for having a hand in anything that dishonors God, no matter how strong or wise or right it makes you look in the eyes of men.
Battling the Unbelief of Misplaced Shame, October 2, 1988, Used by Permission of DesiringGod.org.
In the case of well-placed shame for sin the pain ought to be there but it ought not to stay there. If it does, it’s owing to unbelief in the promises of God.
Battling the Unbelief of Misplaced Shame, October 2, 1988, Used by Permission of DesiringGod.org.
Shame was originally viewed as the result of a problem between God and ourselves. Now it is reduced to whatever prevents us from feeling good about ourselves.
When People are Big and God is Small, P&R Publishing, 1997, p. 83. Used by Permission. Get this book!
