Most people think of the need for healing only on the physical level, but healing also occurs on the spiritual level. When we’re hurt inside because of something we’re ashamed of, this type of suffering is real. Shame made its debut when Adam and Eve sinned and hid from God.
We’ve all felt the pain of it—and yes, feeling ashamed of something actually hurts inside—regardless of whether it was an accident, something we had no control over, or something we did on purpose. When guilt festers inside of us like an untreated wound it turns into shame. At this point, we feel unlovable in others’ eyes or even separated from God, but Jesus took care of that when He took away all our shame on the cross. He became shame itself, but paid dearly for it by being temporarily separated from the Father (Matthew 27:46).
Even though He knew in advance this would be an excruciating process, He deliberately did it because of His intense love for us. It hurts Him to see anyone struggling with something He defeated more than two thousand years ago. Sin and shame are abominations to Him, but we can rejoice knowing we can now be free from their debilitating effects. “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).
We stay healthy as long as we’re connected to God, but shame makes us feel spiritually sick and disconnected from Him. Fortunately, we can let go of whatever makes us feel embarrassed or ashamed. We must never let shame hang around long enough to become ingrained because it will hold us back from fulfilling whatever mission God has assigned to us. By faith in His promises of total healing we’ve been restored to perfect health. “Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24, NKJV).
Jesus bled and died to take away our shame forever. Religion tries to remind us of it and make us continually sin-conscious; but when we believe on Him, the shame that kept us separated from God loses its grip on us ( Romans 9:33). “For the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed” (Romans 10:11). The past is gone, and God has chosen to remember our sins and mistakes no more. We can now untie the rope that the enemy has tied to our past and joyfully embrace the present and the future.
The devil tries his best to use shame to keep us from realizing God’s plan for our lives. Faith in Jesus’ finished works gives us the confidence to move forward. “I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed” (Isaiah 50:6, 7). We’re paralyzed no more!