Shame: I was naked,

I was afraid,  I hid myself (Genesis 3:10).  Before the fall,  Adam and Eve were naked,  and they were not ashamed (2:25). But with the fall everything changed. If you've ever thought “if anyone ever found out, I would die,” you were likely feeling what Adam was feeling. It's called shame.  And with Adam, our likely reaction is to hide.  Though they are related, guilt and shame are not the same thing. A little simplistically guilt says 'I have done something wrong.'  If nakedness was not wrong before the fall,  it was not wrong afterwards. Adam of course was guilty of disobedience, but he points to his nakedness. Shame says 'there is something wrong with me. If people really knew what I was like, they would reject me!' Shame cares more about what other people think about us, than what God thinks about us. It undermines our our true identity as beloved children of the living God. The world calls this self worth. Most of us don't like ourselves very much, but God does.  These feeling are rooted in shame.

Mother Teresa has an interesting saying, “nakedness is not just for a piece of cloth.” We feel shame in a variety of situations including embarrassing exposure, rejection, abuse or being bullied, defeat, failure,  being different or left out.  In ancient times being barren (childless) was a source of shame. Feelings are complex and likely shame is a part of other emotions, such as feeing inferior, inadequate, and not up for the job.

There's a wrong way to deal with shame, it's called shamelessness, and there are basically two types. There is brazen shamelessness, that's marked by impudent boldness, and or a blatant disregard for the rules or morality. The Lord complained about rebellious Israel  saying “Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed; Nor did they know how to blush” (Jeremiah 6:15).

The other kind of shamelessness is self righteousness,  a holier than thou attitude. “I have no shame because I am perfect.” Such people  understand neither the depth of our universal sinful nature, nor that this attitude it is smoke in the Lord's nostrils (Isaiah 65:6). Self righteousness is accompanied by a lukewarm self satisfaction. The Lord warns about those who say “I am rich, I have become wealthy, and have need of nothing.”  They do not know that they are wretched, miserable, poor and blind, and naked (Revelation 3:17).

Jesus was crucified naked on the cross, no tastefully place loincloth for Him! In this way He bore both our sin and our shame, so that we do not need to bear it ourselves (Matthew 27:35; 1 Peter 2:24; Isaiah 54:4).  It is one of the benefits of salvation, of being put right with God.  He offers this poetically in Revelation 3:18  saying “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed.” There is much more to say!

Lord Jesus salvation is a free gift (Ephesians 2:8, 9), but it is more costly than gold. It cost You everything. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for Your friends (John 15:13).  Thank You Lord that You have clothed us with the garments of salvation,  covered us with a robe of righteousness (Isa. 61:10).  Thank You Lord that I no longer need to live in shame in Your precious Name Amen