Shame, What Is It, and How to Deal With It?

Image Source: (28) Midori Ito 🥈 - Albertville Games (1992) HD - YouTube

 By Al Baker - Posted at Forget None of His Benefits:

“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.” – Revelation 16:15

Perhaps you remember the story of Midori Ito, the great Japanese figure skater, who was favored to win the gold medal at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville. She fell in her final routine, and finished with a silver medal. The next day she appeared on national television in Japan, apologizing for her failure for letting down and disappointing her entire nation. This seems strange to many of us in the West and that’s because many Asian and Middle Eastern cultures are driven by shame. We in the West tend to be guilt based. We want to know if someone is guilty, if he has broken the law. In Middle Eastern Islamic cultures, if a young woman marries a Christian or converts to Christianity it is not unusual to find her brothers or father murdering her. Why? Because she has brought shame to the family and that shame must be avenged.

However, shame is also very much a part of our culture. We can see that teens are prone to shame when they feel they must dress a certain way, wear their hair like everyone else, or when they feel inclined to listen to the music of those whom they want to impress. Adults do the same thing, thinking they must live in that special neighborhood, drive that certain car, or dress that acceptable way. Everyone battles with shame. How would you feel if your past week’s thoughts, speech, and actions appeared on your church youtubechannel? Shame is a real problem we all face. What are you to do with it?

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