The Healing of Our Shame

Guilt is feeling bad about what we do…shame if feeling bad about who we are! We can feel legitimate shame from our own sin or illegitimate shame from other’s sins against us. Through Jesus’ incredible death on the cross, God wants to heal us of all our guilt and shame, just as He wants to forgive all our sins. Feeling shame (feeling badly about who we are…there is some-thing wrong with me) is one of the most significant issues facing us on an almost daily basis.

Read Isa 61:1-7

Observe:

- Can you relate to being “a prisoner”, “brokenhearted”, and “all who mourn”?

- Do you see what one commentator calls “The Great Shame Exchange”?

- How do we know Isaiah is talking about “shame” here? (see 61:7)

- What encourages you most about what is promised in these verses?

Read Luke 4:16-21

-Who provided “The Great Shame Exchange”?

Optional Activity: Write out “The Great Shame Exchange” in your own words…how it applies to you personally.

Invitation: This week, or any time, whenever you have any feelings of shame, reflect on the above verses and memorize one or both of the following verses:

Heb 12:2 (NIV) Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

1 Pet 2:24 (NIV) He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.

Roy and Deborah Garren serve with The Navigators at the University of Florida.