1 John 1:9 - Guilt and Shame

Yo,

something that I've been thinking a bunch about lately, as mentioned previously, is the concept of shame and it's really shedding a lot of light on things that I had just not even noticed before. One of the places that I think this has made a huge difference is in regards to the Bible where the concept of guilt and shame are often mentioned.

Previously I hadn't really understood them and thought they were essentially the same thing. They are definitely similar, but shame is so much deeper. Guilt is a feeling that you did something wrong and leads to reconciliation, trying harder to not do it again, and similar positive results. Shame is a feeling that you are bad and leads to isolation, despair, hopelessness, apathy, and the like. Shame makes you see yourself as less and not being worth trying.

And so, as I learned about shame, whether consciously or not, I couldn't really get a hold of it because it didn't seem Biblical. Where did the Bible ever talk about shame or overcoming shame?

And I think this really stemmed from an ignorance. I wasn't seeing it because I didn't know it was there. And now, I see it in places I'd never even imagined it being. Places so simple and yet so profound.

A verse that I'd heard over and over again and told others over and over again has now become so much more. 1 John 1:9 says "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." And I had always read that as simply forgiveness and grace for the things we had done, God's justice, His mercy, His grace and love; the legal requirement paid on the cross as Jesus died on our behalf. Us clothed in His perfection, covering our sin, covering our badness. The cleansing just being of the sin, that it was behind us. The idea that we may struggle with feeling as though, as a result of our sin or not, that we were bad, that we were unrighteous, that there was nothing that could cure that; that idea hadn't crossed my mind. But God is greater than our guilt and the requirement of death for sinners (paid through the cross to bring us life), and He is greater than our shame and feelings of worthlessness (as we trsut in Him He makes us new, He cleanses us from alllllllllllllllllll unrighteousness!)!

He is faithful and just. We are forgiven and made new in Him. Amen.

I am forgiven. I am made new.

D.Fa