“Without healthy and loving relationships, it is difficult to experience joy and easy to experience shame.”
Cyd and Geoff Holsclaw
God doesn’t just love you; He likes being with you. When you like someone, you enjoy their presence and want to spend time with them. But fear, shame, and rejection prevent us from seeing God as He really is – the God who wants to be with us. God desires to connect with us through two-way communication. He not only wants us to speak to Him through prayer but also wants us to listen to His voice. If we only speak and don’t listen to God, we will have half the relationship God intended.
Shame erodes our sense of worthiness, distorts our image of God and ourselves, and robs us of the joy of connecting with God and others. When we feel ashamed because we’ve sinned, we feel unworthy to approach God and draw closer to Him. But here’s the deal: God is not ashamed of you. In our sinful vulnerability, we can still approach God through the gift of repentance.
After Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden in Genesis chapter three, God asked them, “Where are you?” Even though God knew they had sinned and hidden themselves, God pursued a connection with them. We feel God’s love the most when God accepts us at our very worst. We can’t earn God’s acceptance by pleasing Him with our obedience. Rather, we receive God’s unconditional love and acceptance based on who He is and what Jesus has done for us.
Vulnerability with God and others is the pathway to intimacy. Our deep-down desire is to “feel felt” by God, to know that He understands us and “gets” us. Being known despite our lack and not being good enough and being known in our vulnerable state as we struggle with sin builds trust and deepens relationships.
To counteract the shame that prevents you from approaching God and listening to His voice, remember that God really likes you, even in your vulnerable and sinful state, and He finds joy in connecting with you as you spend time with Him. You are welcome to come into His presence anytime because that is where you belong. And it’s in God’s presence that you find joy.
“It is only when we have lost all love of ourselves for our own sakes, that our past sins cease to give us the anguish of shame.”
Thomas Merton
Relevant Reflection:
Describe a time when shame prevented you from pursuing God’s presence to hear His voice.
Comments