Shame Based Identity

“No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame” Psalms 25:3 (NIV)
Guilt comes from doing wrong things; shame comes from a sense of something’s wrong with us. Guilt says “I have done something wrong.” Shame says, “There is something wrong with me”.
We deal with our shame by creating a facade. It is an image that we project to everyone around us. It is a lie. We want people to believe that we are better than we are. In Greek plays, the actors who wore masks were called hypocrites—literally two-faced. That is where we get our word hypocrisy.
          In the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve were both naked yet they were without shame. But once they rebelled against God, they became shameful and hid from God. That has been the lot of all humanity since; we feel shamed and hide from God.
          But God never intended for us to live like that. Jesus took our shame and guilt to the cross. The book of Hebrews says that Jesus endured the cross, and scorned its shame; the shame of an innocent man being hung on a cross as a common criminal.
          He died so we don’t have to; He rose from the dead to give us real life. That life is intended to be free from shame. God, through Christ, offers us the chance to get rid of our false selves—to be at peace with ourselves because God has fully embraced us . He has embraced us in our shame and our brokenness. He has loved us so deeply that, if we will let Him, His love will drive out all our guilt and shame. And we will find ourselves running to Him rather than from Him.
-Pastor Dino Griffin