Goodbye Shame Today's Three-minute Bible Study Print, Study and Apply Title: Goodbye Shame------------------- Date: 6/30/2002 Keywords: "compassion" “mercy” “shame" Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation. Passage: Psalm 51:1-4, 6* 1. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. 2. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. 3. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. 4. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. 6. Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. Questions 1. On what basis does the psalmist ask for mercy?   2. Have you ever experienced a forgiveness so radical that you felt absolutely clean?   3. Does viewing pornography leave you feeling clean and healthy?   4. The psalmist doesn’t just leave it with asking for forgiveness. What else does he ask for? Are you interested in more than just forgiveness in your relationship with God and others?   Practical help Have you recently felt the awful feeling of shame? Perhaps your porn secret has been discovered. Perhaps you are experiencing rejection by others around you because of your failings. Shame can lead to anger. “How dare they act this way to me!” you think. “Who do they think they are?!!!” The anger masks the shame and in a sense permits you to justify what you already know is wrong. Besides, if you act out your anger, you will further drive friends away, which will leave you with more loneliness and shame. So what’s the solution? Where can healing and restoration begin? First, admit to God that you have messed up. Name your sins to him (not for his sake but yours). Then ask him to forgive you, not on the basis that you are basically a nice person but on a character quality God has in abundance. He is compassionate, merciful and full of love for you. Two proofs of this are: (1) He made you in the first place and (2) He died in your place to buy you back (click here to find out how he bought you back). The point the psalmist (who happens to be King David — the one who fell into adultery and committed murder, but who God forgave) is making when he says, “Against you, you only, have I sinned” is that this is the essence of what sin is. It is a violation against God and his order. Every time we sin against others, we are first and foremost violating God’s commands. To know that what we have done has violated God’s law, certainly pre-empts the following opinion. “Well it wasn’t so bad;look at that other guy. I’m much better than he is.” In God’s eyes, your sins, if not covered by his son's sacrifice, are deserving of death and hell. This is because God is holy, and sin cannot stand in his presence — a big problem if you want to live forever with him in heaven. Here is where the gospel (which means “Good News”) comes in. So don’t wallow in shame any longer. Cry out to God, and he will hear you. eXXit homepage Index of three-minute studies Copyright 2002 by eXXit *Scriptures are from The Holy Bible: New International Version, © Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. All rights reserved. ---