Shame tells you that you need to do everything possible to prevent God and people from seeing your failures and weaknesses. This keeps you living in shame’s shadow. It provides no way to escape; instead, it keeps digging your hole deeper so that no one can see who you really are. 

This week at Iron Leadership we will discuss The 5 Signals of Shame:

• Blame-shifting
• Questions constantly rolling through your mind like: Am I really good enough? Did my dad/mom really love me? What would happen if God or people really knew me?
• Believing the lie that if God is really coming toward me, it’s for my condemnation rather than my restoration.
• Being quick to condemn others
• Fear of speaking the truth about yourself outloud

Curt Thompson has written an excellent book on shame: The Soul of Shame. I was also helped by his sermon: The Gospel and Shame. The most profound part for me began around minute 26 when Curt talks about the blind man in John 9. “Your healing from shame will cause disruption. I can’t tell you how many people I counsel, who, in the context of their own families, when they decide that healing is what they are going to pursue, their families try to keep it from happening.”