The language of shame is extreme. Hear it enough and you believe it. You are told you are disgusting and unclean, and eventually you believe you are.
You would think that anyone would jump at the chance to escape shame. But that isn’t the way it happens. Though shamed people are happy to guide others out of their dark prisons, they are always sure...
The massive interest in self-esteem and self-worth exists because it is trying to help us with a real problem. The problem is that we really are not okay. There is no reason why we should feel great a...
The more you read Scripture, the more you actually talk to God rather than think about fear.
The odd thing is that fear and anxiety are running away from something, but they don’t know what to run to. They know danger, but they don’t know where to find peace and rest.
The ordinary is not good enough for us; our hubris wants something grandiose. But the ordinary done in obedience to Christ is beautiful, inspired, and oftentimes heroic.
A lingering sense that something was very wrong with him. That sense is called shame.
The reason Scripture doesn’t give clear guidelines for assigning responsibility is that it is not essential for us to know precise causes. This is good news: you don’t have to know the exact cause of...
When you are confident that you are the Father’s treasured possession, you are also confident that his loving care will continue forever. Building warehouses is a waste of time and space. His gifts to...
The thing or person you trust in is actually the object of your worship. Look
The world was created by God as the abode of human beings. As created by God it is good, but as our abode it bears the mark of our sin. Therefore, in the New Testament, the term world is used to denot...
Then bring near to you Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the people of Israel, to serve me as priests—Aaron and Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. And you shall ma...
Then, when shame strikes, it is so nasty you have to numb yourself, and what better anesthetic than your addiction? It is the perfect vicious circle.
There are more subtle ways we can contribute to depression too. For example, our misguided beliefs might lead us to think that we are beyond God’s love or forgiveness. We could be carrying fears of de...
There is a resiliency in the human spirit that keeps us going even when we have no reason to continue.
This was Paul’s joy in suffering and shame: that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain...
Therefore, to fight against hopelessness is to take action in the present. You think that checking off a to-do list is unspiritual? When done by faith, it is heroic. There are paradoxes in depression;...
Therefore, we cannot rightly say, My God is not a God of judgment and anger; my God is a God of love. Such thinking makes it almost impossible to grow in the fear of the Lord. It suggests that sin onl...
These days, shame is emerging from the shadows and beginning to have its own identity. For example, if you talk about guilt to people under thirty, you often get blank stares. But if you talk about wo...
These words point in the right direction, but some of them, such as embarrassed, insulted, different, and ignored, can fade with time. Real shame requires more intensity. That’s why the language of th...
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