An Epidemic of Shame

There is a shame epidemic in Christianity today. So many people feel ashamed. Ashamed in their friendships. Ashamed in their marriages. Ashamed in their relationship with God. Shame puts a choke-hold on grace.

What you experience is living knowing you are free from the penalty of sin, but feeling as though you are not.

Genesis 2:25… “The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.” 

 What jumps out to me about this passage is that there is a definite connection between nakedness and shame. Naked doesn’t just describe Adam and Eve’s physical appearance…it describes the condition of their heart. It illustrates their relationship with God.

 Our willingness to live naked…to live exposed…to come out of hiding will determine the amount of shame with which we live. Why can’t we grow in our intimacy with God? Why do all of our friendships stall at a certain level? Why do we feel so disconnected from our spouse? Why do we settle for superficial relationships?

Shame diminishes our potential for intimacy in every aspect of our life.

God’s desire for us is:

• Bare
• Open
• Exposed
• Uncovered
• Honest
• Known

What we live in is:

• Hidden
• Disguised
• Secret
• Concealed
• Buried
• Unknown

Adam and Eve hid behind fig leaves and thought that God wouldn’t see them. I look at their choice and think, “How foolish.”

But I am a master at hiding. I hide behind my reputation; my income; my status; my talent; my career; my smile; my ability to fake you out.

What this type of hiding leads to is shame…and shame is the enemy of the life God longs for you to have.

Living unashamed will cost you something. To live naked will cost you a lot. But what you will gain is being known and feeling no shame.

Maybe today, you are experiencing shame in your life; in your marriage; in your friendships; in your relationship with God because for some time you have been unwilling to be naked. You have counted the cost of baring your soul and exposing your heart to God or to another…and the cost seems to high.

God’s greatest desire for you is to be fully known by Him and for you to know Him fully. Shame is the enemy of being known.

Do you struggle with shame from the past; shame from failures; shame from mistakes?