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What is the pathway to freedom from the bondage of shame? We harbor shame when we look at our past failures so much that we see ourselves as failures. We harbor shame when we believe lies that have been told to us or ones we’ve manufactured in our minds, telling us that we have no worth or little value.
As disciples of Jesus Christ, there is a pathway to freedom from shame. This passage from 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 shows us how to defeat shame:
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Shame is a pretension that tries to destroy the truth about God and about who you are as created in God’s image. It pretends to be the truth, but it is not. And it is an argument; that means, it is a battle in your mind and for your mind. The enemy of your soul, Satan, is an absolutely expert liar—that is his language and he speaks it well. If you are caught in the bondage of shame, it is because you have believed his lies about who you are and you have not used the weapons we have been given to demolish that stronghold of bondage.
There is a pathway to freedom from this bondage, and it is bringing those thoughts of shame into captivity and making them obedient to Christ. How do we do that? By defusing Satan’s lies with God’s truth, and the truth is that as a child of God, you have been cleansed from all shame.
Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water (Hebrews 10:22).
Put this verse on a card; carry it with you at all times. And use this as your divine weapon to demolish the stronghold of shame. Read it every time you feel shame. Read it over and over; memorize it. You have divine power to find the pathway to freedom from shame through Jesus Christ.