Shame, Satan’s Ammunition

 

I believe shame came the moment after sin.

 

Genesis 3:6 is where Eve and Adam eat of the fruit and then…

 

“And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.”

Genesis 3:7

 

A typical response to sin is to hide it. In a way hiding sin creates more shame, sometimes more sin and shame as it compiles upon itself.

 

Shame is a double-edged sword, of sorts, and often hiding it can become nearly impossible. The longer we hide it the harder we fight to keep it hidden. Because, somehow old hidden shame is worse than new shame. The shame becomes more shameful the longer it has sat in hiding. It is a monster that grows in the dark. In a very real way it does grow, we will talk more about this when we discuss the second edge of the sword.

 

The double-edged shame sword is a very effective weapon of Satan. Let’s look at how our enemy uses each edge of the shame swords to keep us trapped.

 

The First Edge

 

First Satan uses our sin to label us. He calls us liar, thief, fornicator, greedy, jealous, gluttonous, selfish, adulterer, and covetous just to name a few. Basically, he calls us dirty sinners, unworthy of forgiveness. Here is the kicker, Satan doesn’t really lie here. He doesn’t have to lie; a small stretch of the truth is all he needs. What he says is true and so we let him beat us down with “the truth.” Only is it true? Or is it Satan’s distorted truth? Let’s go back to the garden and see how Satan tricked Eve.

God said,

“You may surely eat of every tree of the garden but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Genesis 2:16-17

Satan said,

“Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

Gen 3:1

 

Do you see how Satan slightly changes the truth with one word ‘Not’ and by leaving the details out. This is exactly what he does to us. We sin and Satan wants each sin to be a label. I was selfish and acted inappropriately, Satan labels me as selfish and rude. It may be true that my actions in a certain situation were selfish and rude. Does that mean it should be written across my forehead? Satan turns his accusation into titles and tells us to wear it as a name badge.

An Analogy

Let’s look at this from another point of view for just a minute. Let’s say you are out shopping with your 7-year-old son. As you wait in line, he is eyeing the goodies that line the separation between the conveyor belt and the next cashier. He asked if he could please have just one candy bar, you tell him no there is plenty of candy at home. When you get home, you discover that he pocketed the candy bar. He knows that what he did is wrong. He understands that he stole from the store.

 

Are you going to label him as a thief? A sinner?

 

No way! Not even if it happens 5 times, this is your child. Yes, he will have to live with the consequences. However, he will not be judged and titled by a few mistakes.

Our Enemy’s Way

If we did things Satan’s way, we would call our child a good for nothing thief. Satan doesn’t say that was wrong, he says you are bad. It is a subtle shift that makes a huge difference. Do you tell them that their behavior is wrong? Or do you tell a child that they are bad? See the difference?

 

We all make mistakes, we have all sinned. And to be totally honest, we are all going to sin again. Unfortunately, for me this will be sooner rather than later.

 

“For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God;”

Romans 3:23

 

Wait there is more, don’t stop reading at the familiar verse, look at what comes next

 

“Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

Romans 3:24

 

 

Satan says “you are evil”

God says, “you have sinned, repent and be forgiven”

 

That is grace, because we know we deserve the accusation and condemnation that Satan is trying to hand us. But God, say’s “No – the debt has been pain, be forgiven.”

 

Our mistakes do not have to define us. If we are in Christ, they are not who we are, our identity is in Christ. Who we are is not in our actions, weather good or bad.

The Second Edge

 

The monster that grows in the dark. Shame of unrepentant sin does grow. And the longer Satan can convince us to leave it in the dark place the more power he has over us.

 

Don’t believe me? Think of all the day time dramas, this is the main story line. Someone has some dark scary skeleton, or two, in their closet and they will do anything to keep them hidden. Unfortunately, many of us have found this to be a harsh truth in our real lives.

 

Analogy Part 2

 

Going back to our analogy, what do you think would happen if you were to let your son off the hook? No punishment at all. You just tell him never to tell anyone and every time you are alone with him you call him a thief, in a disdainful tone. How do you think this would make him feel about himself? Do you think he would ever tell anyone what he had done?

 

I am sure you find this twist a bit appalling, and rightly so. We would never stand by and allow someone to do this to a child. And yet we let Satan do this very thing to us, and we don’t think it strange.

 

Disarming Satan

 

Any sin hidden will cause greater and greater shame. This is the monster growing in the dark. How do we kill this monster? We expose it to the light. Don’t let Satan’s lies have power, expose them to the truth of God’s Word.

 

Satan will use anything and everything he can against us. The more secrets we keep to ourselves the more ammunition he has against us.

 

Taking the ammunition away is simple. Although simple doesn’t mean easy.

 

Confess and Repent

 

First, we must confess and repent. Bring it to Jesus. He has already paid the debt. God wants to forgive. Please don’t do like I have done and pick it back up when you get ready to go. It belongs to Jesus now, we need to leave it with Him.

 

“as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”

Psalms 103:12

 

Don’t Listen to the lies

 

When Satan whisper’s “you’re a thief/liar/(insert)” follow these 2 steps;

 

1^st – Say, “you are correct, I have done that and I deserve condemnation, but Jesus has paid the debt. By His blood I am free from the guilt and shame because of Jesus”

 

2^nd – Say, “I am not what you call me. My identity is not found in you Satan, it is only found in my Creator, my Savior, my God. You have no hold over me.”

 

Jesus calls you forgiven, loved, worthy, and seen! Be wise, know that you will have to repeat these steps numerous times. Satan will not just slink back into the dark corner by himself if he can help it. This will be an ongoing process be prepared.

 

Still Struggling?

 

The Bible says to share your struggles/faults with one another and to help each other.

 

“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

James 5:16

 

If it is something Satan has a firm shame hold on you, then I recommend that you consider talking to a mature Christian about it. This can be a great way to shine the light of Jesus on it. Verbalizing it can take the powerful ammunition out of Satan’s hands. Pray and let God lead this as the idea is to shed God’s light on the difficult situation not to dredge up bitterness or unforgiveness. Try to think of it as telling the facts without bias. And the power Satan has to shame you with it will diminish greatly.

 

In the Garden of Eden God made the first sacrifice to clothe Adam and Eve. Jesus was the final sacrifice and by His blood we are washed, clean and pure. We are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. There is no more shame.

 

“And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.”

Zechariah 3:4 ESV

 

God lovingly removed our sin stained clothes and clothes us with pure garments. In His perfect love there is no shame, no reason to hide or fear.

 

Correction or Condemnation

 

“Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.”

Romans 8:34

The only One who has the authority to condemn us is interceding on our behalf.

 

 

 

One more thing

 

One last word of caution. Satan will often take God’s correction and do everything he can to turn it from correction into condemnation. If you have already confessed it to God, it is Satan trying to trip you up. You only need to confess any sin once.

 

    Here is another post on forgiveness you might like

 

Grace and Peace

Debra Jean

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