Feelings of Shame

[cmc]

Monday, March 8, 2010

John 8:3-11

We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

Shame has kept many of us in hiding. The thought of revealing ourselves to another human being stirs up feelings of shame and the fear of being publicly exposed.

"The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd. 'Teacher,' they said to Jesus, . . . 'The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?' . . . Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, 'All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!' Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust. When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one . . . until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman" (John 8:3-9).

Many believe that it was Jesus' writing in the dust that caused the accusers to leave. Perhaps he was listing the secret sins of the Jewish leaders. If this is true, it gives us a beautiful picture of the kind of person Jesus is-a person with whom we can safely expose our secrets. Our confessor needs to be someone who is not surprised by sin and will not be waiting to condemn us. Such a person needs to take private note of our wrongs, writing them in the soft dust, not etching them in stone and posting them in public. Since shame can be a trigger for addictive behavior, we need to be careful about whom we choose.

With God's help we can accept his forgiveness and be released from our shame.



New Life Ministries.

[LuvinMe]

Amen........

[Insulated]

I don't know. Some addicts have no remorse or conscious. My late ABF looked me square in the face and said matter a factly, "I'm an addict". He gave it no futher thought or emotion. Kind of like the weather is nice today kind of mentality. I believe addiction can and does get so far gone the A is fully aware and doesn't care. They just accept it.

[cmc]

I love this reading mostly because it reminds me to guard my own heart- especially in how I relate to others.

Jesus made a rather huge point about it being nobody else's business to place shame on another. This theme is also seen in other parts of the New Testament with more specifics on how to help a 'weaker brother' with gentleness, love and respect.


Jesus could have spared the woman's life without pointing out how _He_ felt towards the people ready to execute their judgement (no pun intended) and throw rocks at her. Instead, not a soul present could withstand His biting words.

Their aims? Accusation, judgement, condemnation, and to participate in a session of public torture that was to end in death.

Jesus' purpose? To call out the hypocrites (aka the religious people) for the evil in their own lives, and to administer mercy & life to their victim, the sinner. "...I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more."John 8:11.