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In the Gates

Free to Be Pure

I recall reading an article some time ago that explained the difference between guilt and shame. Both are equally yucky feelings. Either makes us feel dirty, embarrassed, and even a little threatened. The devil loves it when we feel this way, almost as much as when, having become hardened to sin, we don’t feel anything at all.

 

The Law of Liberty (25)

 

...the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes… Psalm 19.8

I recall reading an article some time ago that explained the difference between guilt and shame. Both are equally yucky feelings. Either makes us feel dirty, embarrassed, and even a little threatened. The devil loves it when we feel this way, almost as much as when, having become hardened to sin, we don’t feel anything at all.

The difference, the article explained, is that guilt relates to something we have done. As such, we can atone for guilt – apologize, make things right, shake hands, and so forth. Shame, on the other hand, relates to feeling bad about something that you are. In yourself you are simply no good, unworthy, a wretched person – and there’s nothing you can do about it.

But the Law of God comes to the aid of the Lord’s redeemed at precisely this point. For, while the Law is used of God to point out impurity in our lives, it also guides us along the path of righteousness, so that, as we walk in the way of God’s Law, we can be confident that our lives are pure and acceptable to God, regardless of anything the old accuser might say.

By meditating in God’s Law, praying it in and living it out in the power of God’s Spirit, we can become increasingly pure and Christ-like in all our ways. Guilt and shame can be a thing of the past for us, as we grow in the power of God’s Law to liberate us from such feelings of wretchedness and unworthiness.

Order your copy of The Law of God, a compilation of the Mosaic Law for contemporary believers, and The Ground for Christian Ethics, by T. M.

 

T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He and his wife, Susie, make their home in the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
Books by T. M. Moore

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