God can help us sort out our true guilt when we actually sin and help us rebuff the false shame people or culture try to place upon us. Satan is behind these attacks, and we need to use spiritual warfare to fight back. But first we have to be aware of the attacks, before we can respond properly.
Last week I posted (“When Angry People’s Words Strike Our Hearts”) about angry liars trying to shame us for their misdeeds. Even when we know we are not at fault for their misdeeds, their angry accusations can leave us with shame, or make us feel uneasy and unsure of ourselves. I shared in my post “Miraculous Healing Today,” about my worries that I was hiding un-confessed sins, because of my generalized sense of false guilt after spending too much time with one certain angry liar.
Let’s compare true guilt we feel when we sin with the false shame some people, or even our culture in general, try to place upon us. With true guilt, we have sinned, and the loving Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin. We may have fallen back into a familiar weakness (over eating, giving in to our temper, etc.) God shows us the specific sin and guides us, with his love, back to his will. He even gives us ideas to strengthen our relationship with Him so we can (with his guidance) weaken our flesh’s sinful hold on us. The Holy Spirit is such a great guide!
In my post about the angry liars, I talked about those who berate us with guilt trips, when they have caused their own problems. Even when we know we did not cause their problems, we may still feel dread and shame for no good reason. For young children, living with an unrighteously angry father, this guilt and shame can take root deeply. A daughter or son could grow up with such a falsely guilty conscience, manipulators try to take advantage of her or him. Those manipulators often take and take from a gal (or guy) like this.
This is why gals (and guys) must be aware of their childhood and early adulthood patterns of life (and any trauma) and get healing from this false guilt and other lies.
Some people use more subtle guilt to manipulate people, getting the person to buy something or donate money. Other people, tempted by their jealousy, may manipulate a gal to give up things or even down play her talents, because the jealous person cannot stand to see her shine.
Our corrupt world (society) especially piles false shame on innocent people. Based upon whatever our worldly culture values, it will attempt to bash anyone who disagrees and lives differently. Jesus talked about this when he said, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed,” (John 3:19-20). As Christians, we live differently, and the world hates us for this. John 15:18-19, says, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”
Think of any “new social value,” such as “depopulation is good, and large families are bad.” Where did that thinking come from? God said, “Be fruitful and multiply,” (Gen 1:28, Gen 9:7). Now of course no woman should feel guilt for never marrying or never having children. Jesus talked about people who are single (and being childless is also a limit on family size) so they can better serve him (1Cor7:32). But a person’s marital status or family size is personal, between that person and God. Or what about the “carbon footprint,” that has somehow come to mean society judges what people eat? Yes, people need to eat food that properly nourishes them. Each person needs to find what works for her. But God told Peter, “Do not call unclean what I have called clean,” (Acts 10:10) and although the bigger part of this story was about no longer calling Gentiles unclean, God was also saying the formerly forbidden foods (as prescribed in Levitical Law, in Leviticus Chapter 11) were now allowed for Jews to eat. God gives us wide leverage about what we eat. People with health issues make their own limitations, but they still eat to God’s glory, not to glorify humans or the earth. Our earth is a wonderful tool, and God called us to manage it well, (Genesis 1: 26-28 & Gens. 2:15) but never to worship it. We should never sacrifice humans for the benefit of the earth.
People who disagree with these “new social” narratives would be bashed by our society. Our society pushes narratives that become more narrow and restrictive, yet Jesus said, “The thief’s purpose is to steal, kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life,” (John 10:10). The worldly agenda contradicts the Bible, because the focus is against God and the well being of humans. Yet a gal might still feel guilty after she reads the secular media. Perhaps she thinks she has been too lazy about sorting her recycling, or her showers are too long, or she over ate at a party, and she is going to destroy the earth. Of course we must conserve, but when a person becomes worried about her every action, for fear she is not conserving enough, this worry is not from God. He gives to us generously. Of course we make mistakes, perhaps forgetting to sort our recycling or some other small thing. But if our hearts are right, and we do our best, God values our efforts. Our society does NOT. Often society implies we should assume we are guilty of every wrong. I have even heard these non Christians claim to believe Christ, and spin these ideas into alleged Biblical truths, which they are not. Jesus values human life. He was poor and obviously “left a small carbon foot print,” meaning he did not harm nature. But he still ate meat, still honored big families and singles, and did not condemn people who turned to him when they sinned and repented.
Some social norms even imply one race or one gender, or a certain socio-economic class is more guilty than another. In the end, 100% of humanity is guilty of sin. We all put Jesus on the cross, so in that sense we are guilty of something. But we cannot possibly be guilty of all the social and ecological ills of our world. We are too small to carry that much guilt.
From wherever the false shame came, we have choices about how to deal with it. Judas Iscariot and the Disciple Peter both sinned against Jesus. But Judas Iscariot committed suicide, the worst choice, which was prompted by Satan (Matt. 27:3-5). Peter wept bitterly, but he still loved Jesus. His repentance was from his heart for God, (Luke 22:62). Under all of this false shame, the devil and his demons lurk.
Satan does not want us to know how much God loves and adores us. God will clearly show us our sin, if we love him and have a repentant heart. We don’t have to suffer under shame and fear of missing some sin we have forgotten to confess. But we have to identify this shame and false guilt. Satan knows we can come to God, if we know what is wrong. This is why we say Satan is subtle. Rather than accuse us, outright, Satan can also cause us to feel a semi-subconscious guilt or shame. We may assume we are doing wrong things that are not sins, and use an unsuccessful technique called “trying harder.” We do that in our flesh. We may also think we are not sinning, but we use another (not true) label, called “not doing our best.” We know this may not be a sin (such as not doing the best job in the garden or not doing the best job cleaning out our closet). Somehow we do not feel it is a sin worthy of coming to God about. We still feel guilt and a lower self esteem for “not doing our best,” and so we try to employ the “trying harder” technique. Often what we did was sufficient—perhaps we had limited time, and the work we did in the garden was good enough. We truly needed to leave the garden, get inside the house, and tend to other more important matters (like caring for our family—yes even playing with our children who need that kind of nurture).
Yet here is this false guilt. We assume it is not enough to confess to God, but we still feel badly about ourselves, as if we are not living well enough. Perhaps we are living very well. We are frail humans with limited resources. Sometimes we are tired and have to “do less” on a project. That truly may have been all God wanted us to do.
As you can see, in all of these ways, Satan wants to pull us away from God. Whether Satan blatantly contradicts Scripture, or he gives us subtle guilt or shame, he draws us away from the tender and loving Father who just wants to hold us when we are tired. He wants to comfort us when we see our work is not as great as our dreams. I could never be a perfect gardener. I do not have the time or money for that. But I can be a good enough gardener, on top of all the many other things I do. Being good enough in the garden gives me more time to adore my girls and give them attention. They are only teens, and they will one day move away. Perhaps then I could have a more manicured garden. But for now, I can do “some” cooking, cleaning, mending, teaching (I home school), etc. I can do enough. This is what Satan does not want me to know.
But when I come to Jesus, weary of these burdens and guilt, he comforts me. He actually said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light,” (Matt11:28-30). Any time our spirit feels heavy, we need to check in with God. It is likely that Satan was throwing another one of his subtle barbs at us. When we love the Lord, Satan may have to use the subtle methods.
So we must listen to our hearts and our bodies. If we are physically weary, we need to consider why and attend to that need. God is there to listen to us. The Holy Spirit can help us through this spiritual warfare. Spiritual warfare is sometimes as simple as being aware of how we feel (in body and emotions/mind). Then we welcome God to come into our heart and into our mind to guide us. We then rebuke the lies we believed, and maybe even recognize this as a place where Satan may try to come back and give us more guilt. We confess when we truly sin, but with those many ways the world, our conscience, and other people accuse us wrongly, we turn to God and rebuke those lies. 1John3:19-22 gives us some strategy: “And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.”
I pray I have blessed you with this post. I pray over every post and also pray over my blog in general, that I would bless my readers with God’s grace and shalom (a special peace). You are very precious to God, and I pray I can walk alongside you in this battle against the cruel attacks of Satan.