Isa. 42:17 , 44:9-11-The 3 elements of shame:exposure, revelation and consequences involves the element of trust as well. Trust is giving up our soul to another with the hope we will not be harmfully used. This power we give to another is the power to determine whether or not we are acceptable and desirable which empowers another to determine whether I am acceptable or not.
This can be misconstrued and becomes idolatry which is placing our longings to another for which only God can provide, putting this longing in the hands of a creature rather than our Creator.
Shame or folly comes about when our false god fails to meet our needs and heal our wounds, then we begin to rely on our own strength rather than on God or anyone else. All of this represents illegitimate shame.
Legitimate shame is when we acknowledge God, God is the One who determines our acceptability. Thus, legitimate shame is facing our failure to trust in God. Trusting God means relying on Him to keep our body or our world intact and to maintain the intactness of our soul. Shame of the flesh tries to deflect sin through contempt and blameshifting as with Adam and Eve.
Contempt/Deflection:
The enemy is ultimately the evil one, and the path to Satan's
vision is rebellion or autonomy, or in other words, sin. Self-contempt
and other-centered contempt is a mean by which we maintain a
semblance of control over our lives that protects one from dependence on God, and this keeps one from dealing with the problem of sin and God is the only One Who can deal with sin, the flaw of our fallen nature.
Functions of Contempt
Ps. 1:1-3
-To deal with this problem requires more than behavioral
change. The issue here is sin, salvation and sanctification. Contempt
serves us in 4 ways:it diminishes our shame, it deadens our longings,
it makes us feel in control, and it distorts the real problem.
Self-contempt is satan's counterfeit for conviction of sin. All
abuse is a violation of the sanctity and wholeness of the human
soul.
Prerequisites for Growth:
To move toward loving God we begin to alter the process of self-centered
stagnation and decay.
John 12:24-25 -Trusting in God involves the loss of our agenda, so that we die to our inclination to live a lie. We forfeit our rigid, self-protective, God dishonoring ways of relating in order to live life as it is meant to be lived. In order to love God's way, we must both honor the dignity and expose the depravity of the person with whom we are in relationship.
Honesty
Heb. 2:10
, 5:8-9
-Real life requires death. Death involves the
experience of suffering. Suffering is required for growth. Christ's
sufferings was in bearing the disgrae and shame of the Cross.
As we take up His cross, we can then really see what we are meant
to be. The purpose of regaining memories is removal of denial,
reclamation of the self, and a movement toward real change. Ps.
139:23-24-Reclaiming the past is a lifelong endeavor.
Repentance:
Repentance is an about-face movement from denial, rebellion to
truth, and surrender from death to life. Repentance is an internal
shift in our perceived source of life, and it involves the response
of humble hunger, bold movement, and wild celebration when faced
with the reality of our fallen state and the grace of God. This
leads us toward coming alive for the explicit purpose of having
more to give to others for their well-being and to God for His
glory.