The Weight We Carry

I once heard a man say, “All humans know they have something to be forgiven for, but not all humans know who they must be forgiven by.”

I believe this is true. In fact, the Bible tells us it’s true (Rom. 2:15; Ps. 83:16). Yet, unfortunately, shame and guilt continue to overwhelm this generation as the world runs more deeply into immorality. As a result, our culture is becoming increasingly saturated with self-help tools, books, and seminars on removing these weighty burdens upon our conscience. We are surrounded by “experts” who promise us the path to eliminating our shame and guilt if we simply follow their guidance.

But what is shame? Well, there is valid shame and invalid shame. In short, valid shame is the emotional and relational consequences of your sin. It’s your conscience’s reaction to the moral trespasses you’ve committed. Invalid shame is experiencing emotional remorse for something that is not sin. This book’s focus is on valid shame.

Now, we live in a society and age that encourages people to be shameless and, as I will present in this book, hardening our conscience against valid shame and sin are gravely dangerous for our souls.

On the other hand, guilt focuses more on the judicial result of your sin. That is, in the name of justice, you have a responsibility to pay the penalty for the transgressions you’ve committed against a person, law, or entity. You see this in our modern civil justice system. Therefore, guilt is about consequences, restitution, and ideally, reconciliation, while shame is about the conviction of sin in the conscience.

Allow me to make a statement of fact: We all have trespassed against God, one another, and creation. We each have thought evil, been hurtful, expressed hatred, stolen, lied, and cheated. And we each, whether we realize it or not, have a growing weight of shame and guilt as a result. The only effectual way to remove this shame and guilt is to repent, ask for forgiveness, pay the consequences, and make amends for what has been damaged, broken, or lost.