Sin is a chain, and shame is the lock keeping it on you. Shame blocks confession, keeps you from God, and feeds more sin. Break the cycle by confessing to trusted Christians, running to God even when ashamed, and building habits of grace and community.
If sin is a chain, then shame is a lock that holds the chain around you. Here are 3 reasons why shame will keep you in sin and how to be free. Number 1, shame keeps you from being accountable. When the devil is tempting you, he minimizes your sin. Once you give in, he magnifies it. When you mess up, the enemy will tell you, if anyone knew, you'd be rejected. If they found out what you were doing, they would never want anything to do with you again. We confess to God to be forgiven, but we confess to one another to be healed. But shame makes it so that we won't reach out to others. Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. Number 2, shame keeps you from approaching God. Every believer should be confident when they approach God because our access depends upon Christ's perfection, never on our performance. But just like Adam and Eve, when we feel shame, we hide from God. The last thing you feel like doing after a sinful mistake is praying, reading the Word, or going to church. But that's exactly what you should do. When you mess up, don't run from God. Run to God. Number 3, shame keeps you stuck in a cycle of sin and shame. When you can't go to others for help and you won't go to God, you'll reach out for comfort, even if that comfort comes in the form of more sinful actions. This is why shame leads to cycles of sin. You give in to sin, then you feel shame. Then in order to numb the pain of shame, you reach out for more comfort in the form of more sin. I challenge you right now, despite how you feel, you need to go to God and make it a habit to go to God even when you still feel shame. Then within the next 24 hours, as scary as it might feel, and I actually want you to do this, I want you to reach out to trusted people who aren't going to gossip about your failures and who aren't going to be harsh with you. Go find fellow Christians who will pray for you, encourage you, and check in on you. Not shame on you, shame off you.
