Shame

Last night, I found myself confronting the SHAME of another. I would like to say that I consoled the person, and in fact, that was my initial reaction.

The sin was confessed in such a sudden, unexpected fashion, that I was totally surprised! Completely caught off guard, my initial reaction was... "Oh, that's OK." and "You didn't have to tell me that." Neither of which were very appropriate, especially for the circumstances.

I momentarily removed myself from the situation to gather my thoughts. I won't elaborate on the nature of the sin that was causing the shame, but will say that is was one that is common and often times minimize, especially in our culture. But SIN is SIN and this person was suffering the consequences.

Once I had a chance to think about how I should "speak the Truth in Love" I went back to my friend and asked if I could speak to them. I explained that what they had done was NOT OK. However, what they had done was a sin against God, not me. I reminded them that they would need to repent. Repentance is the only remedy that I know for shame.

I also praised them for having the courage to confess their sin to another. The Bible tells us to do that, but often times we only do so in a obligatory manner or only when confronted by another. As I said earlier, this came completely out of no where. They chose to expose sin that I would have never suspected. For that I admire my friend.

I guess that their unsolicited confession speaks to the true effect of Shame. No one would accuse my friend of being jaded, callous or hard. Shame was truly a burden for them. A burden that they were not prepared to bear. I believe that they were desperate to remove that burden and I happened to be a safe person to engage in that process.

There is one last thing that I want to touch upon in this posting. Learning from others can be such a tremendous gift. Sometimes we can avoid certain pain and sorrow, if we just take the time of observe the misfortune of others and chose to behave or react differently than them.

For the past year I have been in Rick Renner's Sparkling Gems From The Greek: 365 Greek Word Studies For Every Day Of The Year To Sharpen Your Understanding Of God's Word as my daily devotional. The prayer at the end of today's passage says "Help me live a life that is holy - one that pleases You and for which I will not be ashamed when You suddenly appear to gather the Church to Yourself." That reminds me that I too have Shame. Its points out that I need His HELP to live a life that is holy. How about you?

I found a link to today's devotional here.