Shame vs. GuiltNehemiah 1:5-7  “Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you.  We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.How many of us have found ourselves in a similar situation?  In a situation where we have to come to God and tell Him that we messed up.  That we sinned, yet again.  That, despite knowing how He wants us to act, we did the opposite.  This is never a comfortable conversation and it is one that quite honestly many of us avoid.  We know that we have sinned in some way and yet we do not bring it to His attention.  Why not?  Because we are embarrassed or we feel shame.  Shame is definitely the work of the enemy.  God did not create us to feel shame.  Remember in the garden of Eden when Adam & Eve heard God’s voice and they hid because they were afraid because they were naked.  But guess what?  They were always naked.  Their outfit was nothing new.  They had never worn clothes before.  Its just that they were not ashamed of their bodies until sin entered the world.  They were perfectly happy walking around naked before Eve & Adam ate that apple.  Then once sin entered the world, it brought shame with it.  Shame is a result of sin and of our brokenness.  However, that does not mean that we have to allow it into our lives. Many times we get shame confused with guilt.  Guilt is a feeling you get when you did something wrong, or when you think you did something wrong.  Guilt can be a good emotion because it can help you recognize when you’ve made a mistake.  It can help you see when you need to repent and ask for forgiveness and when you need to apologize and make things right again.  Shame is a feeling that your whole self is wrong.  So instead of just feeling like you may have done something wrong you feel like you are wrong because you did that thing.God does not think we are bad just because we may do something that is bad.  God loves us completely from the beginning.  There is nothing we can do to earn his love or to lose his love.  We always have it.  Does it make him sad when we turn away and chose other things over him?  Probably.  Does he stop loving us because of it?  Not at all.  All God wants us to do when we mess up is to acknowledge it and to turn back to him.  This is why the devil brought shame into the world.  Shame keeps us from acknowledging what we did.  If we start feeling like we ARE our bad behavior, then we start to think we are not good enough to be forgiven.  We start to think that we don’t deserve God’s love and so we don’t repent.  We don’t ask God to forgive us because we don’t think we are worthy.  When we don’t repent for the things we do, we grow further away from God.  Then the further away we get, the harder it is to find our way back.If we let shame permeate our lives then we start to feel like we don’t deserve anything.  We don’t deserve God’s love, we don’t deserve our kids’ love, or our friends’ love.  Then we start to change how we act.  We no longer act like we are worthy of love.  We don’t act like we are children of God.  We may start to hide from other people, make ourselves small or little, because we think that is what we deserve.  Can you see how all of this is benefiting the enemy?  Can you see how he can twist some small thing that you may have done into this big thing that you feel there is no way back from? You may be feeling guilty because you did something you perceive is bad.  For instance, you are on a diet and you ate a cupcake.  Then the enemy gets into your thoughts and tells you this wasn’t a one time thing.  You have done this in the past, you will do it again.  He tells you that this is who you are.  You are someone who can’t keep promises to yourself.  Then you begin to believe these thoughts.  Then you let shame enter into your mind.   Then you start to look for ways you may be doing this in other parts of your life.  Before you know it you are feeling like you are not worthy of God’s love because you are someone who can’t do anything right.  Do you see how shame gets in and tears you down?This is not what God wants for us.  God has so much grace for us.  If you have ever read the old testament you know how much grace god has for His people.  The Israelites had God’s presence with them, right there in their camp, and yet they were constantly doing things he told them not to do.  It’s like they just could’t help themselves.  And yet God kept forgiving them.  Moses, or whoever was leading them at that time would lead them into repentance and then God would forgive them.  God does not want us to feel shame.  I love how the passage begins by praising God.  He is awesome and he does keep his covenant of love with those that keep his commandments. Even when we mess up and we don’t keep His commandments, all we need to do is repent and he takes us back under his wing and keeps his covenant.  He is a God that is true to His word.  If you are worried that you are not worthy of God’s love, let me clue you in on a secret, NONE of us are worthy of His love, and yet, he loves us with an everlasting love anyway.  When you sin in some way, don’t let shame come into it.  Yes, feeling guilty is ok.  If you did something that you knew was wrong, then your feeling guilty is a sign that you should do something to fix the situation.  Repent and turn back. However, do not let shame settle in and make you feel like you are a bad person.  You are a child of God.  You were made in His likeness and image and nothing you can do can take that away.Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you that you be with all of us here today.We ask that you help us to see where the enemy has brought shame into our life. We ask that you illuminate it so that we can find it and let it go. Lord we are sorry for all we’ve done to offend you or turn away from you.  Lord, we are so grateful that you are so merciful and offer us so much grace when we turn away.  We are grateful that you continue to love us even when we mess us. We are grateful that when we mess up all we need to do is repent and turn back to you.  You are our almighty, merciful, forgiving father and we are so thankful for that.  Lord, I ask that you bless all those listening to this podcast.  I ask that you help them let go of shame and recognize that although none of us are worthy of our love that you give it freely and without conditions.  We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.