How to recognize shame:
- Fear of Exposure and Intimacy
- Fear of never feeling good enough.
- Devastated by criticism.
- Being overly critical of ourselves and others.
- Motivated by what other people think.
- Motivated by fear.
- Underperforming to avoid risk.
- Self hate and self depreciation.
- Measuring your value by how well you perform.
- Rejecting with people who don’t measure up.
Shame never comes from God.
Guilt says, I deserve to be PUNISHED.
Shame says, I am WORTHLESS.
Guilt says I DID bad.
Shame says I AM bad.
1. Did God really say that?
2. Where are you?
3. Who told you that you were naked?
Shame Based Thinking:
• We are vulnerable to PERFECTIONISM.
• We are CRITICAL of ourselves, making us CRITICAL of others.
• We use self-defeating THOUGHTS as a form of protection and escape.
Isaiah 54:4 NLT // “Fear not; you will no longer live in shame. Don’t be afraid; there is no more disgrace for you. You will no longer remember the shame of your youth…”
The only way to heal from shame is to move the FOCUS from what I’m not to who Christ is.
1 John 1:9 // If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
