Editors Note: This article is written by BCC Counselor, Sherry Allchin as part of our series on Pursuing Peace. In this series, our counselors are unpacking how to find peace in all areas of your life.
Guilt and shame churn like a hurricane in the soul! Anxiety, isolation, escape! What is shame and why is it such a part of the human experience? Shame is “a painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior.”
Are shame and guilt the same thing? No. Guilt is a legal standing before God. You are guilty if you sin, or not guilty if you did not sin. There is also a third option – no longer guilty if the debt of sin is paid and the guilt has been absolved! That is redemption, justification, salvation. Shame, then, is the emotion that accompanies guilt. So how do we release that emotion back to a place of peace?
Peace through redemption
When Adam and Eve chose to sin, with their guilt came an avalanche of shame; they were both guilty and ashamed, which led to fear and hiding. God showed up on the scene to redeem them through
To continue...read the full-length post originally published on this site.
