Genesis 2:25

God created us to be feeling and thinking people. How we feel will affect how we think, and how we think will have an even stronger effect on how we feel. Some people are more in touch with their feelings than others, but everybody has feelings. Every feeling person should also be a thinking person.

God did not intend that we should ever experience some feelings. Some emotions entered the world of human existence because of sin. Emotions of guilt, despair, distrust, hatred, humiliation, jealousy, envy and shame all fit into this category.

Guilt feels “I have done something bad.” Shame feels “I am bad.” We experience guilt when we do or think something that we know to be wrong or sinful. We experience shame when we think others have rejected or judged us. Some children are taught from an early age to feel shame. They are told they will never amount to anything, they are told that they are bad. As long as they think what they are being taught is true, they will live in shame.

Guilt is constructive when it leads to repentance. Guilt can cause us to say I’m sorry and ask forgiveness. Shame is very destructive when it leads to self-hatred, and self-destructive behavior. If you are living with shame, God wants you to think. “I am not broken junk, God created me and he can repair me.” “I am not worthless, Christ died for me because to him my value is beyond measure.” “I am not unlovable; God loves me with an unbounded love.”