Before I explain the above photo, I want to go over last weeks' announcements...
- Winter Jam: We are planning to go, so keep reminding me if you are interested in going with us. I'll give cost and date at a later time.
- re\\VAMP Wednesdays: January 8th is the launch of our official new services. Get excited and contact me on here if you are interested in being a part of our worship team or leadership and I'll get you an application.
- Fifth Week: it's a week from today and here is the flyer we're painting the town with.
Now to answer the question about the mustaches, last week at re\\VAMP, we played a game in honor of facial hair trend, movember, that I call #yomo. The game was like "yo momma" but instead of dissing on mothers we switched gears to a positive note and COMPLIMENTED the manliness of each others' mustaches. For example, I said, "Your mustache is so manly and wild that Bear Grylls, himself could not survive in it." To which my student responded, "Your mustache is so Italian that even Mario couldn't pull it off."
Needless to say, it was good clean fun and it worked its way into a lesson we all need to be reminded of.
The other facial hair trend of November is "No Shave November." Well, the week before last I was unable to be at our service and Clinton taught our students on identity. The one thing that really stuck with them was his quote, "Your actions do not define YOU, YOU define your actions." In other words, your past failures don't define you as a failure, you have the power to control your future actions and succeed. I realized in hearing this that the feeling of being a failure needed to be further addressed so in the spirit of November we tackled the topic of shame!
#noSHAMEnovember.
What is shame?
Are shame and guilt the same thing?
Webster's
1 a : a painful emotion caused by consciousness of guilt, shortcoming, or impropriety b : the susceptibility to such emotion
We have all felt shame before. But should we ever give in to shame? We've discussed condemnation and conviction before and determined that conviction comes from the Holy Spirit, but condemnation is a tool of satan to hold us down, but does that apply to guilt and shame as well?
What does the Bible say about shame?
To this I'll refer to a web article by acts17-11.com
Jer 6:15 (NAS) "Were they ashamed because of the abomination they have done? They were not even ashamed at all; they did not even know how to blush."
The Way Of Shame
Shame, guilt, and condemnation are similar in that they all have to do with sin, but different in degree, duration, and scope.
Shame is an intense feeling of angst that makes you wish you could evaporate; extreme humiliation and remorse; a despairing of life from abject embarrassment.
Guilt is realizing you have done wrong, usually for some particular sin.
Condemnation is being sentenced (convicted) for doing wrong.
Shame is deeper than guilt. It is not based on having done something wrong so much as a soul ache of being wrong at the core. Shame is more piercing than condemnation where the reality of judgment is mentally apprehended from an outside arbitrator. With shame we palpably feel our own depravity in vivid self-realization.
With this definition, what could possibly be the benefit of shame in the lives of the redeemed? Should its debilitating presence be given no quarter, or does God use it--even require it? Is it a pity party, or the Holy Spirit's doing?
The Case For Shame
1 Cor 15:34 (Wey) Wake from this drunken fit; live righteous lives, and cease to sin; for some have no knowledge of God: I speak thus in order to move you to shame.
1 Cor 6:5 (Wey) I say this to put you to shame...
Eze 16:63 (NKJ) that you may remember and be ashamed...
Ps 69:5,7 (NKJ) O God, You know my foolishness; and my sins are not hidden from You... Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; shame has covered my face.
Heb 12:2 (Phi) ...For he himself endured a cross and thought nothing of its shame [NIV: scorning its shame] because of the joy he knew would follow his suffering...
The Case Against Shame
Isa 54:4 (NKJ) "Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; Neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame; for you will forget the shame of your youth..."
Joel 2:27 (NIV) Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and that there is no other; never again will my people be shamed.
1 Pet 2:6 (Wey) For it is contained in Scripture, "See, I am placing on Mount Zion a Cornerstone, chosen, and held in honour, and he whose faith rests on Him shall never have reason to feel ashamed."
Now, it might be understood that these and other "no shame" Scriptures are a future promise--spoken as a destiny and hope. Or again it might be pointed out that these types of texts are promising that we will not be ashamed at "throwing in" with God in the long run. But still, there they are: and should we not strive to attain them?
While I agree with the author that shame, in a biblical sense, is looked at in both a positive and negative way, I have a different thought on the way we use the word in our language.
Anyone who is bilingual or has taken a foreign language class knows that sometimes words don't translate properly from language to language. Some words don't even have a proper word for them in other languages.
This being said, my point is that the word shame as we (and the author) defined it and the word shame in these verses are not always exactly a match. This is what I believe of it and the scriptures will back this up, when you define "shame" as we have.
Shame is to condemnation as conviction is to guilt.
If you sin, YES, you should feel guilty, just as God WILL convict you for going against Him. But you should not feel deep SHAME because that is a tool of the devil to keep you from growing, just as he uses condemnation.
Where shame defines your identity by your actions and says, "Look what you've done! You're nothing more than a wretched sinner and you'll never get past this." Guilt and conviction from the Spirit says, "Look and the mess you've created. Let's clean this up together, because I made you and know YOU ARE BETTER than what you're doing."
This is why I wanted to play a game where instead of throwing insults, we threw compliments. People already have enough guilt on their hands and we don't need to focus on the negative and bring them to shame. Instead, we should focus on the positive and bring them to light. Earlier that week I had seen a video by Blimey Cow that really hit that point home...
In closing, we are believers in Christ. If we are truly saved, changed, and re\\VAMP'd then we can abide by the following.
So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. (Romans 8:1, 2 NLT)
Where there is no condemnation there also should be no shame.
