Glenn Lucke asks, “Isn’t there a place for shame in the Christian life?”
And perhaps more disturbingly, he asks, “Have people started using epicenter in place of center?”
Glenn Lucke asks, “Isn’t there a place for shame in the Christian life?”
And perhaps more disturbingly, he asks, “Have people started using epicenter in place of center?”
As far as shame is concerned, I suppose more precision in speaking would be helpful. Certainly there are specific things which, if a Christian falls into them, he ought to feel ashamed about them.
But there’s a shame that is a mode of being, a free-floating condemnation that follows a person wherever he goes, like Joe Bfstlfxpq’s rain cloud in the old “Li’l Abner” strip. That’s the kind of shame I live with constantly. I’m literally ashamed of everything I do and all that I am, to one degree or another. This is, of course, a sin against God’s grace, and I’m ashamed of that, too.
I understand some of that feeling or belief of being ashamed of who I am, but I don’t suppose it’s sinful. I think it’s only misguided. The Lord paid a terribly high atonement price for us, and now we cannot be condemned by anyone, not even ourselves.
Through Christ Jesus, we have conquered our sin and our shame, and if the feeling of shame hangs on to us, we can remind ourselves who we are and what we have in Christ.
But Glenn is talking about a lesser shame than this. There’s real and false shame, and we struggle against false shame. We don’t have to live in the lies we’ve been telling ourselves for years. We need to renew our minds with the truth.
A life lesson I’ve learned the hard way is that it’s a form of pride to be ashamed of things that aren’t shameful. Just a thought.
You’re right. And that makes me feel very ashamed.
All right, let’s not be ashamed of things we should feel guilty over, and let’s give that guilt to the Lord just like the shame. Didn’t Luther say, “Sin boldly”? That’s a statement of reliance on God’s overwelming grace and the atonement of our sins past, present, and future.