Jason.
Jason.

Providing resources, insight, and advice to live out your calling and ignite your faith.

Subscribe


Get regular email updates delivered straight to your inbox, as well as exclusive content crafted specifically for subscribers only that will ignite your faith and help you live out your calling.

Jason is the founder of Ignite Student Ministries, a dynamic ministry igniting youth, young adults and university students to passionately pursue Christ and transform society in high schools, work places and universities around the world.

Share this Post


The Shame of our Guilt

Jason VanaJason Vana

Photo Credit: Erin Vermeer (Creative Commons)

Guilt and shame.
They tend to go hand in hand.

We mess up, we make a mistake, we tell a lie, look at that site, shout at our child, waste our time watching TV instead of reading the Bible, gossip about our coworker, ignore the prompting of God to do our own thing and almost instantly, shame comes upon us.

We did it again.
We failed.
And we’ll never get it right.

Guilt and shame are two sides of the same coin.
Or so we’ve been trained.

We make a mistake, and beat ourselves up about it for weeks.
We fall into that one sin time and again, and hear that we don’t really love Jesus.
We don’t respond the way someone wants, and have guilt shoveled upon us until we give the “correct” answer.
We go to church, find ourselves in small group, get involved in a ministry and feel one mistake, one slip up and we aren’t worthy of leadership.

Guilt begets shame which begets more guilt and even more shame.
It’s a never ending cycle.

But guilt and shame aren’t the same.
They don’t need to go hand in hand.

Guilt comes when we do something wrong. It’s all about our actions.
Shame tells us we are wrong. It focuses on our identity.

We all experience guilt.
When we make a mistake, when we sin, when we hurt those around us, we experience guilt.

How we handle that guilt either pushes us to change or pushes us into shame.

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” – Romans 8:1

When we see guilt as an indicator of bad actions, it pushes us to change.

The guilt we feel over telling a lie, the guilt that comes when we give less than our best, the guilt we experience when we push God aside to feed our own desires is meant to open our eyes and bring change.

Guilty was never meant to be our identity.

Christ paid for our guilt. When we mess up, He doesn’t label us guilty. He doesn’t see us as screw ups. He doesn’t slap the term failure on us.

And neither should we.

Guilt is only an indicator. When we apologize, when we repent, when we ask God and those we’ve wrong for forgiveness, we need to let our guilt go.

Holding onto our guilt makes it our identity, and moves us into shame.

How do you keep your guilt from turning into shame?

Jason is the founder of Ignite Student Ministries, a dynamic ministry igniting youth, young adults and university students to passionately pursue Christ and transform society in high schools, work places and universities around the world.