[Genesis 3:6-13]

“ The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too.  At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.  When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the LORD God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the LORD God among the trees.  Then the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.” “Who told you that you were naked?” the LORD God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?” The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.” Then the LORD God asked the woman, “What have you done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.”

1. GUILT BECOMES SHAME, WHEN IT HIDES IN ME

Curt Thompson, a Christian Pysychiatrist, The Soul of Shame, “Guilt is something I feel because I have done something bad. Shame is something I feel because I am bad.”

Study Bible says this (Gen3:7): “a guilty conscience is a warning signal that God has placed inside you that goes off when you’ve done wrong. The worst step you can take, is to eliminate the guilty feelings without eliminating the cause. That would be like using a painkiller [for a bleeding wound without stitching the wound].”

Curt Thompson, “Shame is not just a consequence of something our first parents did in the Garden of Eden. It is the emotional weapon that evil will use to corrupt our relationships with God and each other, and disintegrate any and all gifts of vocational vision and creativity.”

[2 Corinthians 7:10]

“For the kind of sorrow. God wants us to experience, leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.”

2. GUILT BECOMES HOPE, WHEN IT’S EXPOSED

[1 John 1:5-10]

“This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.”

Abbot Pastor, a monk, once said, “If you have a chest full of clothing, and leave it for a long time, the clothing will rot inside. It is the same with the thoughts in our heart. If we do not carry them out by physical action, after a long while they will spoil and turn bad.”

[Hebrews 10:21-22]

“And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.”

[1 John 1:7]

“If we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus…cleanses us…”

4 Steps To Keep Guilt From Becoming Shame

1. Embrace Confession
2. Embrace Correction
3. Embrace Community
4. Embrace Jesus

[Proverbs 28:13]

“People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.”