Healing the Wounded Heart: Removing Obstacles to Intimacy with God by Thom Gardner

Author:Thom Gardner [Gardner, Thom]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9780768499421
Publisher: Destiny Image
Published: 2011-07-28T04:00:00+00:00

The Influence of Shame

The lie of shame is “I am not good enough.” It is a lie involving comparison, similar to worthlessness; but instead of comparing ourselves to other people, we compare ourselves to some kind of standard. Shame makes me want to cover myself in some way to hide my perceived imperfections.

There is a common phrase that some parents speak over their own child when he or she does something wrong or something that displeases them. The parents may say, “Shame on you.” The unfortunate result of this pronouncement is that shame does come upon the child. Shame makes the child recoil and hang his head, not to mention that it cuts him off from relationship with the parent. Nothing good can happen when we say, “Shame on you.” Nothing!

When our girls were small, occasionally they would spill some milk at the table. I think there is some kind of clause in the baby contract that a small child must spill something at the table at least once a day. In any case, it is inevitable that toddlers will spill the milk. As parents, we have basically one of two options as to how we respond. We can either yell something at them that they already know—namely, that they spilled their milk. Or we can grab a towel and clean up the mess.

Our response usually was (though not always, I’m sorry to say) to clean up the milk and then deal with the cause, if there was one. If we would have just gone off on them without doing anything about the mess, declaring that they were careless or stupid for spilling their drink, the milk would have lain on the table and begun to stink after a few days. The stink of that spilled milk is synonymous with the shame of past sin or shortfalls for which we believe there is no healing or forgiveness. When we are under the influence of shame, we are, in effect, “crying over spilled milk.” We are focusing on the mess of the past without seeing the way to clean it up. Shame is the result of “stinkin’ thinkin’” about God and His grace. Shame tends to remove us from the very place that God wants us to be—namely, with Him.

Shame is the Canaanite influence. The Hebrew name Canaan suggests humiliation. It was Canaan, the grandson of Noah, whose descendants bore the shame of the sin of looking upon Noah’s drunken nakedness following the flood. Shame and nakedness go together throughout the Bible. When we are naked, we are exposed, vulnerable, and defenseless. Our reaction to shame or nakedness is to hide from one another, from God, and even from ourselves.

We need to be clear here that shame is the serpent’s idea, not God’s. We were created for intimate fellowship with God. Before the Fall, man looked forward to the distinct sound of God’s footsteps in the cool of the day because they portended a wonderful fellowship with the Creator-Friend. But when

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.