Shame vs. Guilt

Guilt is, "I did something wrong."
Shame is, "I am a bad person."

Shame tells us to give up.  "What's the use, I'll never get this right!" It immobilizes us from making positive changes.  This is one of Satan's favorite tools to use against us.  He takes us out of the battle and neutralizes our effectiveness for the Kingdom by piling shame on us.  This is his job.  He's the accuser and the father of lies.

Examine your thought life to see what your automatic thoughts are.  Guilt can be helpful if it motivates you to make changes but don't let shame render you powerless.

Solution:  Make changes so that you aren't living in shame.  Once you have made changes, as you are tempted by thoughts of shame, take your thoughts captive and change the focus of your thoughts.  For ideas on thought changing see the post on M&M's and Resources.

Here is an interesting video that can help understand shame:
Brene Brown talks about her research on vulnerability




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