Battling Shame & Guilt

The Cambridge dictionary describes the word guilt as a “feeling of worry or unhappiness an individual experiences when they have done something wrong.” Indeed, guilt can describe the wave of remorse that rushes over a child after he steals a dollar out of his mother’s purse. It can also define the remorse of a burglar who committed first degree murder in a home-invasion gone wrong.

Regardless of the severity of the immoral act, the feeling of anguish that consumes the perpetrator’s soul robs them of a peace of mind and it is almost always accompanied by shame. Still, while guilt and shame are closely linked, the words are not necessarily interchangeable. 

Guilt and Shame Explained

While guilt can evoke feelings of shame, it mainly deals with the gut-wrenching humiliation a person feels as a result of a wrong act or foolish mistake. In other words, a person feels guilty when they realize how their actions have negatively impacted another individual.

On the contrary, when a person struggles with shame, they are battling strong feelings of mortification and self-pity when they reflect on how their actions impact them and how others perceive them as a result.

As you would expect, guilt and shame, and the feelings of inadequacy, frustration and self-contempt that quite often tag along, viciously feed the cycle of addiction. All things being considered, a person whose life is dominated by the involuntary adherence of a destructive habit almost always has to battle a chronic sense of worthlessness and inferiority.

After years of caving into compulsive acts and urges they may even convince themselves they are unworthy of love and redemption. Overtime, they grow accustomed to feelings of guilt and shame and allow these emotions to open the door to depression, despair and even impassiveness.

Shame and Guilt from a Biblical Perspective

What does the Bible have to say about shame and guilt? After all, these are two emotions that –if not adequately addressed– can rob a person of the hope they need to have faith in Christ.

I think the first thing anybody battling with guilt and shame should understand is God already defeated these emotions. You read that right.

The anguish of shame and gnawing feeling of guilt have already been conquered. When Jesus was crucified on the cross, He bore all of our rejection, shame and sin. And even though He was raised from the dead three days later, sin, death and the grave remained lifeless. My friends, if all our sins –that is our mistakes, mishaps and wrongdoing– have been wiped away, then we have nothing to be ashamed or guilty about once we confess and ask for forgiveness.

God Forgives

The Bible says when we come to Christ, “old things have passed away and all things have become new” (2 Corinthian 5:17). Truly, the God we serve is not a God of second chances, but the Lord of extensive mercy who is willing to forgive and accept us when we humble ourselves and turn back to him –no matter how many times we mess up.

The best part is when we do fall down, He doesn’t keep a record of our mistakes. On the contrary, He disregards our controversial histories and disappointing pasts and gives us a clean slate to start from.

When we come to Him, He tells us to forget about the former things simply because He is doing a new thing in our lives that will make the impossible possible –just like He promised to make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert in Isaiah 43:18.

From Paul to Saul

Let’s take the apostle Paul for example. Before he was the passionate leader of the early church who converted thousands to Christianity, he was a devout Pharisee who vehemently persecuted believers and did everything in his power to silence the message of the Gospel.

As a matter of fact, when Paul is first mentioned in the New Testament, he is referred to as Saul. According to the New International Version, he was practically “breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples.” 

He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’

–Acts 9 :1-4 NIV

This voice was none other than Jesus Christ. After He appeared to Saul, Saul became blind for three days. God then sent another believer, Ananias, to pray for him so the scales could fall from his eyes and he could regain his vision.

After his sight was restored, God changed his name from Saul to Paul and he immediately got up and began preaching the message of the resurrection.

Paul could’ve been ashamed because of his past of persecuting believers. He could have even gotten discouraged after people started to gossip about him and accuse him of being a hypocrite because of his old way of life.

But he did not let his past deter him. Instead, he kept praying to God, persisted in studying the Word and was able to share what he learnt to draw many others to Christ. 

If Paul had wallowed in shame and guilt after God had changed him, he would not have been able to author a significant portion of the New Testament.

And if he hadn’t penned those crucial scriptures, millions of lives would have been lost throughout the centuries since the wisdom God communicated through him is responsible for the transformation of countless people around the world today.