Stopping the Shame Cycle

Shame is a powerful influencer. And if we let it get loud enough, it convinces us that we are walking report cards. Shame gives us a capital F saying our behavior is who we are. 

Let’s turn down the volume on shame. 

You may be struggling with your behavior but you are not your sin. Your identity is not wrapped in your performance alone. 

If that statement can’t find it’s way into your heart; listen in on this conversation. 

Josh invites Regeneration Ministries, Dan Keeffer, to dig deeper into the shame cycle and how to stop it. Because destructive behavior, greased with shame, can move quickly into more destructive behavior. 

You are meant for more. Stop wrecking yourself with shame and start reconciling yourself to the truth of God your Father. 

You are loved and welcomed and invited to “Becoming Whole.” 

Listen in.

Highlights:

need to be careful about determining who I am or how I’m doing based on any given moment and the behavior at any given moment.

Shame piled on top of shame has a way of exacerbating our own self loathing and how we see ourselves before God and our relationships with others.

God sees me, not as my sin but as His son.

Homework:

Mentally Cluttered: Do you find yourself unable to be attentive to your yourself, to God? Your family friend or coworkers? Sin creates clutter in how we interact with others. Ask God to reveal your sin, reveal your shame and then ask Him to reveal His love.

Does this sound familiar to you? The Shame Cycle: I feel shame so I act out sexually and feel even more shame. Listen back to the episode. How can you stop the cycle?

The distinction between these two statements so you can identify shame, name it and stop the cycle. 1. Guilt is I did something wrong. 2. Shame is there’s something about me that is wrong.

Remember: YOU ARE NOT YOUR BEHAVIOR. Behavior is not a measure of who you are as a person and it is not all of you.

Resources/Extras:

Jay Stringer

But even there we have to remember that the devil doesn't have his own clay. All he can do is take God's clay (which is always “very good”) and twist it up. ... Purity of heart enables us to see the good that got twisted up. - Christopher West “Art and the New Evangelization: How Beauty Will Save the World”

Transcription:
Full Transcription Available here

Original music by Shannon Smith. Audio engineering by Gabriel @ DelMar Sound Recording.

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