Shame Remover
If you’ve spent any time at all watching TV advertisements or listening to the radio, you will doubtless have heard one of a proliferation of adverts for the latest cleaning products that “loves the jobs you hate”, “shines umpteen things clean” or “puts the freshness back”. Whilst the Marketing agencies that produced these slogans we remember so well clearly did their jobs, the products rarely lived up to their hype.
Little mistakes happen to us all. We’ve all spilt a drink on the couch, dropped food on the carpet and let a saucepan boil over. But it often seems that no matter how many cleaning products we use, how hard we scrub, how much elbow grease we use, there is always a slight residue left behind and our couch or carpet never quite looks the same again. Certainly they never have that brand new shine!
We all make mistakes in our lives too. We’ve all messed up in one way or another. How many times have we all strayed from what we know to be right? Perhaps you’ve told a lie, made selfish decisions, lived a gluttonous life, stolen from someone, committed adultery, carried out a crime or even blasphemed against God. When we make a mistake, no matter how hard we try to brush it under the carpet, we cannot by ourselves remove the shame we feel. Like the tea stain on the new couch, sin leaves a stain of shame on our lives.
A feeling of shame can dominate our thoughts and our lives. We can feel embarrassed, guilty and, if we are keeping these feelings to ourselves they can overwhelm us. Shame is like a spotlight on our lives pointing directly at our mistakes and the feelings it produces can hold us back and stop us reaching our full potential.
The bible is littered with people who have made mistakes. In our sermon last Sunday, we looked at the mistakes of Adam and Eve (Genesis 2:25): And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
As I write this piece, I look out the window in front of me and am surrounded by Autumn colours, the bright and golden colours on the trees are breathtaking. How much more must Adam and Eve have enjoyed the garden of Eden? They lived a perfect, idyllic and sin free life in the Garden. So much so, they didn’t even need clothes. Their lives were so perfect, they didn’t even notice they were naked. Yet still they made a mistake. Eve disobeyed God and ate fruit from the one tree God asked them not to and shared the fruit with Adam.
Instantly, they knew they had messed up, and, in their shame, their nakedness was revealed to them for the first time. Rather than immediately confess their mistake to God, they turned to the world for an answer and tried to hide their shame under fig leaves.
When God comes looking for them, Adam, to whom Eve had turned, tries to shift the blame for his mistake on to Eve who in turn blames the serpent. Their shame is leading them to make more and more bad decisions. In their confusion, neither Adam or Eve knew how to handle their shameful feelings.
When we make mistakes, we often panic too. In our haste, we too attempt to hide our sin, by covering it up and turning to our friends and loved ones for help. As Eve found out to her cost, Adam didn’t exactly help her out of her situation!
I often think, the bible would’ve been a rather short book if rather than try to hide from God, they had turned to him instantly and confessed their mistakes. They would, I am sure, have gone on to enjoy life in the garden.
God placed the feelings of shame in our lives for a reason. Feelings of shame will not go away by themselves. The feelings of shame are designed to return us to God.
Let us not try to hide our own mistakes from God. Let us not turn to the world in an attempt to cover up or hide our mistakes. Instead, let us humble ourselves and turn to God.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9
When we confess, God forgives us of our sins and restores our lives. God gives us a fresh opportunity to rebuild, to start a new life in Him, a life guided by Him.
Like the cleaning products listed at the start, that never truly remove the stains from our homes (even when we follow the instructions on the back to the letter!), there is nothing in this world that can completely remove our feelings of shame for our past sins.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.2 Cor 5:17
Only our Father in Heaven is able to truly remove the feelings of shame and build us into a new creation. God offers us the opportunity of a fresh start and His word provides the instructions how. Join us for the rest of our Shame Remover series to find how you can apply His word to your lives, restore your life, shine and excel. God is the one true Shame Remover. Guaranteed!
How to watch the rest of our Shame Remover Series
Join us every Sunday at 3PM as we continue this Series. You can either join us online or in person at Transformation House where we are operating subject in accordance with full government guidelines.
Stay safe, look out for one-another and stay connected via your Connect Groups. Most important of all, grow your connection with God.
May God Bless each and every one of you in Jesus mighty name.
Robert Clark