In Part 1, we looked at how to overcome guilt. If you haven't read that I would encourage you to go back and read that.
It is essential to know who we are in Christ. If the devil can confuse your identity, he can confuse your life, purpose, and fulfillment. If you are in Christ and have a relationship with Him. If you believe in what Jesus has done for you, that Jesus died on the cross, and that He was buried and that He rose again, then Jesus who lives in you determines who you are.
The vision of salvation includes the tremendous and incredible reality that you and I are completely transformed. We are lifted, and we have become united with Jesus through the Holy Spirit. That by His grace we have His nature, we have His substance, we have His character, we have His life, we have His righteousness, we have His holiness, we have His victory, and we have His mind. We have the fullness of Him, Jesus, dwelling in us.
HOW TO OVERCOME SHAME
WHAT IS SHAME? DEFINING OF SHAME.
Shame can be defined as not fit to look someone in the face, somehow “naked.”
Think about what Adam said, "I was naked, so I hid myself.”
Shame includes feelings of embarrassment and humiliation. There is a feeling of not being worthy. So many are struggling with these emotions today.
HOW SHAME ENTERS OUR LIVES
-Again, past mistakes lead us to feel guilt and shame.
-Public humiliation, people, making fun of us for some reason.
-Abuse, whether it be sexual, verbal, emotional abuse. Abuse from parents and family members can impact our lives.
-Our life position (family, house, background, lack of education, status). Life events like job loss, bankruptcy, and divorce.
-Unfortunately, a lot of the shame people experience comes from the church and church people. Shaming you for what you can’t do right or the mistakes you made. In the church, we need to make sure that we never operate in a manner that brings guilt (condemnation or hopelessness) or shame (embarrassment or humiliation) upon people.
HOW SHAME IMPACTS OUT LIVES
A foundation of shame is guilt because you blame yourself for whatever happened. You see your mistake and feel guilty, which leads to being embarrassed and humiliated.
Shame causes you to give up and quit. Shame says it's not worth it. Shame and guilt are weights that stop you from moving ahead into your future, into the purpose God has for you.
Just like guilt, Jesus is the remedy.
JESUS THE REMEDY FOR SHAME
JESUS BORE OUR SHAME.
Hebrews 12:2 - Let us look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
By using the word shame, it is telling us that Jesus experience on the cross was disgraceful, humiliating, and completely embarrassing. Paintings or sculptures of the Crucifixion seem to always portray Jesus with a towel wrapped around His waist, but this was not true. Jesus was stripped to nothing and hung naked.
Imagine being beaten so badly you are barely recognizable and then hung physically naked in front of your friends, family, coworkers, in front of the world. How would you feel?
Understand today that Jesus took on your shame so you wouldn’t have to.
THE RESULT OF JESUS TAKING ON OUR SHAME
Instead of shame, in Luke 4:18-19 Jesus quoted from Isaiah 61:1-3 and it says, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor; He has sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, 3 to preserve those who mourn in Zion, to give to them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified."
Now look at Verse 7 from Isaiah 61, "Instead of your shame you shall have double honor (a double inheritance), and instead of humiliation, they shall rejoice over their portion."
We don't have shame but an inheritance in Christ.
Romans 8:17 and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified with Him.
The phrase, heirs of God, stresses our relationship to God the Father. As His children, we have, “an inheritance that will never perish, spoil or doesn’t fade away ... it is reserved in heaven” (1 Peter 1:4). Because God has made us His children, we have full rights to receive His inheritance.
Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, is the natural Heir of the Father. Being a joint heir with Christ means that we, as God’s adopted children, also share in Jesus' inheritance. What belongs to Jesus belongs to us. We even see in John 17:22 that Christ gives us His glory, His riches. Read 2 Corinthians 8:9. Understand you are as welcome into God’s family as Jesus is. All that belongs to Jesus Christ belongs to us, the co-heirs, as well.
He bore our shame, and we have received a great honor. We are in relationship with God as His children, and we receive an eternal inheritance as co-heirs with Christ. It is all a result of the amazing grace of God.
We need to trust in the promises of God. We need to know who we are and what Jesus did for us. We need to know our identity in Christ.
So when the devil comes with guilt, or even someone comes along and tries to make us feel shame, or you are just struggling with these things. Try declaring your testimony of what Jesus has done for you. Say something like, "because of what Jesus has done for me, because He shed His blood for me, I am redeemed, I am saved, my sins are forgiven and removed from me, I am justified as if I never sinned, I have been made holy, I have been made righteous, I am separated unto God, and I have been brought near unto God. Jesus bore my shame. I am free from guilt. I am free from shame. I am a child of God."
JESUS IS OUR LIFE GIVER. HE IS OUR SAVIOUR.
If you have never acknowledged Jesus as your Saviour, you can do that today. You can be free from guilt and shame because of what Jesus has done for you.
John 10:10 - The thief does not come, except to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly.
The thief, Satan, comes to steal, kill, destroy. Jesus, the giver of life, comes to give abundant life. Verse 11 of John 10 says that Jesus is the Good Shepherd. And what does that goodness look like? He lays down His life to give abundant life. We can never exaggerate His goodness.
God is for you. God has been for you since you been alive.
Yes, sin is a problem. The Bible shows us that the diagnosis of the human problem is sin. We were born as sinners. Romans 3:23 – all have sinned.
We are separated from God because of sin. We die, physically and spiritually, because of sin. We can’t experience the life of God because of Sin. So we have a problem, and sin leads to guilt and shame.
However, as we have already talked about, Jesus gave us life, He died, He was buried, and He rose again to deal with sin and all the consequences. Even guilt and shame.
John 1:29 - The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
It is good news that when God looks at a person who has put their faith in what Jesus has done that God sees them perfect, complete, and righteous in Christ.
I also stress this because this is the good news we need to be telling people.
If you are looking for freedom, look to Jesus today.
1 John 1:9 - If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes (faith) in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.
Romans 10:9-10 - that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe (its not about what you can do or have done, but what Jesus did) in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved, for with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Romans 10:13 - For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Comments