"Man, have you no shame?"

There was a great discussion this morning among Christian men about the notion of feeling shame when we sin. While some of the debate centered around not having a common meaning for the word shame, some of the tension is our difficulty of making sense of ourselves without the influence of our carnal mind.

If a word can mean anything then it means nothing, so what does shame mean? It literally means "covering ourselves," but it's more applied meaning is to feel the pain of disgrace. Once Adam and Eve were conscious of their sin, they "covered themselves". Thus, shame is a response to wrong doing that came with the Fall. Up until then, Adam and Eve "knew no shame." We may confuse the feeling of shame with the sense of grief. Grief is the pain of feeling "loss".

When we sin, we offend God by violating His purpose for our lives. We may and should feel grief in that we break fellowship (not relationship) with Him as we trust in getting our needs met through the world. However, we should not feel shame. Shame does not come from a Kingdom mind but from the carnal mind (our Fallen state). "Therefore there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus," who make sense of themselves and the world around them through things of the God's spirit.

God does not depend on our behavior to be honored. He is honored because He is God and His Son is the King. Those who trust God for their identity and value know that we are always graced, never disgraced. As a parent I would never want my children (or grandchildren) to "cover themselves" from me because of anything they did.  While they may regret disappointing me, I would not want fellowship to be broken, AND SO IT IS WITH GOD AND HIS CHILDREN. God said to Adam & Eve, "why are you hiding?"


It is sooooo difficult for us to make sense of ourselves through God's eyes. In some respect doing otherwise is just as sinful.   Is it just as sinful (outside God's will) to feel shame for telling a lie as it is to lie? Think about it .....