For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things. Philippians 3:18-19
There is a lot of social pressure against shame these days. We are warned against body shaming, age shaming, ability shaming, and addiction shaming, to name but a few. The fact is that no one wants to be shamed, especially for things that are beyond their control.
Furthermore we prefer to have our choices— the things within our control— affirmed rather than be told they’re foolish or wrong.
This is why the word of God matters. We cause others to feel shame and they cause us to feel shame but what really matters is what God thinks.
There is a lot of inappropriate guilt that holds people back unnecessarily. If you were born with a disability, for example, that’s not your fault, nor can you control your age. The world may treat these as shameful, but that doesn’t mean they are shameful to God.
But shame can serve a purpose, and I think it is a mistake to try to banish that feeling altogether. Philippians 3:18-19 talks about “the enemies of Christ… whose glory is their shame.” Romans 1:32 talks about people who “not only do [things worthy of death] but also approve of those who practice them.” No one enjoys the feeling of shame, but to choose rather to glory in things that are supposed to bring shame is very dangerous.
In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul criticized the church there because they were tolerating sexual immorality within their congregation. It seems a man was sleeping with his stepmother, everyone knew it, and yet the church did nothing about it. This was doubly shameful! Paul said they should have put the man out of the church; let him feel the shame of what he was doing; but why? To bring him to repentance. And in fact, 2 Corinthians 2:6-11 indicates that is exactly what happened.
Shame exists for a purpose— not to crush us, but to motivate us to do right. God does not want us to ignore feelings of shame if they’re legitimate. He wants us to act on them appropriately so we can come out of shame.
Pride is a much, much more pleasant feeling than shame. If we just take pride in everything we do, and if we force any feelings of shame down deep below the surface, we may feel better about ourselves. But then, I’m afraid, our glory becomes our shame.
Though pride and shame somehow manage to work together at Satan’s command (for example, imagine someone ashamed of being poor but being too proud to ask for help), pride and shame are really at opposite ends of a spectrum, as I mentioned last week. In the middle, is humility. That is how God wants us to live.
Whatever is good in us is from God, and therefore being prideful about it makes no sense.
And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? 1 Corinthians 4:7
Yet as forgiven and redeemed children of the King, it makes no sense to be living in shame. Instead, we should be humble— humble enough to accept that it’s not up to us as individuals or as societies to determine what is shameful. What the world says is shameful may not be shameful in God’s eyes. The reverse is true as well. What God says is shameful, society may say is perfectly fine.
The world may even shame us for following Christ and upholding God’s word, but that puts us in good company, for they shamed Jesus too. Jesus “endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God,” (Hebrews 12:2). If he could endure the world’s shaming in order to uphold the Father’s will, then he will give us the strength to do so as well.
Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. 1 Peter 4:1
Dear God, please strengthen us when we feel disheartened. The world would shame us for so many things– for things out of our control– even for doing what is right! But may we never glory in things that You find shameful. Show us the way, Lord, through the guiding light of your word, and through the Light of the World, the Eternal Word. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
Related reading:
Walk Worthy 