Shame is a common human emotion.
It either clings to us constantly, haunts us at certain times, or tries to nudge us into our minds when we remember something that hurt us or that we did to hurt someone else.
Maybe you were teased about your body or shamed for something you said when you were younger. Or perhaps you were carelessly labeled by a parent or cruelly taunted by a bully in middle school, and you’ve let those stinging words define you. Maybe you can’t forgive yourself for something you’ve done, or your shame was thrust on you by someone else and what they did to you.
Scientific American magazine defines shame as “the uncomfortable sensation we feel in the pit of our stomach when it seems we have no safe haven from the judging gaze of others. It makes us feel small and bad about ourselves and wish we could vanish.”
Indeed, social media has contributed to opportunities for others to judge us and make us feel small. Add to that element our post-pandemic isolation tendencies and shame have nowhere to go but inward, continuing to deteriorate our souls and exacerbate the loneliness we feel.
And yet, believers do not have to suffer or hide under the cloak of shame. When we are in a relationship with Christ Jesus, we can say goodbye to shame for good. Here are six reminders that Jesus has completely covered your shame if you’re in a saving relationship with Christ.
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1. You Have Christ’s Identity Now, Not Your Old Shameful One
1. You Have Christ’s Identity Now, Not Your Old Shameful One
In 2 Corinthians 5:17, we are told that if anyone is “in Christ,” they are a new creation, and their past and all things associated with shame are completely gone forever. To be in Christ means trusting in Jesus Christ alone—and His death on the cross and resurrection from the grave—for your salvation. It also means you have His identity, not your old shameful one.
When we identify with Christ and His death on the cross and the newness of life, He gave us when He rose from the dead, that puts our sin and shame issue to death for all time. In Galatians 2:20, the apostle Paul gave us his motto for no longer living in shame: “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (NASB1995).
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2. Isaiah’s Prophecy Assures You that Jesus Covered Your Sin and Shame
2. Isaiah’s Prophecy Assures You that Jesus Covered Your Sin and Shame
In Isaiah 53:3-5, we read this prophecy about Jesus the Messiah and what He would accomplish on the cross:
“He was despised and rejected by humankind,
A man of suffering and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
Surely, he took up our pain.
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed” (NIV).
It’s interesting to note that those verses are a prophecy of what Jesus would come to do, written thousands of years before He went to the cross. Yet those words are written in past tense, signifying that God already saw it done on your behalf before Christ ever went to the cross. Think about that. You are already healed of your shame; that is how God has always seen you, knowing you would one day confess your sin and rest in Christ’s righteousness (1 John 1:9).
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3. Your Sin and Shame Are the Only Things God Chooses to Forget
3. Your Sin and Shame Are the Only Things God Chooses to Forget
God is all-powerful and all-knowing, and no weakness exists in Him. And yet, although God is incapable of forgetting anything, there is one thing He chooses to forget out of His love and grace toward you and me. In Hebrews 8:12, we are told God “will be merciful toward [our] iniquities, and [He] will remember [our] sins no more” (ESV). Furthermore, in Psalm 103:10-13 (ESV), we read these wonderful words about how God chooses to deal with those who are trusting in Jesus’ righteousness as their own:
“He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him” (emphasis added).
Did you catch that? As far as the East is from the West, He removes our transgressions (and their accompanying shame) from us. God, who promises nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38-39), clearly separates us from our past sin and shame. So, if He doesn’t hold us guilty, we shouldn’t hold ourselves guilty by continuing to carry shame.
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4. Your Sin Was Not an Exception to What Jesus Covered on the Cross
4. Your Sin Was Not an Exception to What Jesus Covered on the Cross
I once talked to a friend who was convinced some heinous sin in her past was beyond Jesus’ forgiveness. She believed in the power of the cross and what Jesus did there, but apparently for everyone else but her. Somehow, she felt her sin was the exception.
How arrogant of us to think there is something we could have done or hidden that does not come under the all-powerful, atoning blood of Jesus that was shed on the cross when He died for all who would confess their sins to Him. You are not the exception. Neither is your sin or cause for shame. Jesus’ sacrifice of Himself on Calvary was enough for every sin ever committed by anyone who would ever believe.
In 2 Corinthians 5:21, we read: “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ” (NLT). His worthiness is no comparison to your feelings of unworthiness. Believe His sacrifice for you was enough to cover every shred of shame you will ever feel, and be freed forever from your guilt. He paid a very high cost for you to experience that freedom from shame, so make His joy complete by experiencing it.
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5. Condemnation Is Never from God
5. Condemnation Is Never from God
In Romans 8:31, we are told, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” The answer is our own guilt, the voice of the enemy of our souls, or others who wish to lay guilt and shame upon us. But Romans 8:1 clearly tells us, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (NASB1995). Once you confessed your sin and surrendered your heart to Jesus, everything you ever did and will do that is offensive to God was put behind you, covered eternally under Christ’s righteousness.
Our repentance from sin was needed to accept Christ's free gift of salvation. But when we continue to sin after becoming a believer, the confession of those sins to God—and to one another –is what restores our fellowship with God, Who doesn’t see us as shameful anymore, no matter what we’ve done (1 John 1:9). That shameful state died with Jesus on the cross. You live before Him now as a new creation, one who no longer carries shame but is covered by the pure cleansing blood of Jesus and bears a new name: redeemed one in Christ.
If you have confessed your sins to Christ and you still wrestle with feelings of guilt and shame, those feelings are not coming from God’s Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gently convicts us of sin in order to lead us to repentance. But after we confess, He is our comforter, counselor, and advocate. Satan, the enemy of your soul, is your adversary and accuser. If you still struggle with feelings of shame, ask Jesus to give you discernment to hear His voice only. Jesus said His sheep hear and know His voice (John 10:27). Shut your ears to the lies of the enemy or your inner critic, and listen for God's Holy Spirit's loving, freeing, comforting words.
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6. Practice These ABCs to Remember You’re Free
6. Practice These ABCs to Remember You’re Free
In my book, The New Loneliness, I offer a practical way to deal with the loneliness of shame and those guilt feelings that try to creep back in, after you’ve been forgiven. Remember these ABCs:
A—Acknowledge that your shame is gone. Memorize Psalm 103:12 if you remember that He has completely removed your sin, guilt, and shame from your account.
B—Believe you’re truly free. Romans 8:1 assures you that God no longer holds any of your sins against you. Believe it. To not believe it is to call God a liar.
C—Claim your new identity in Christ. Consider reading through the first chapter of Ephesians every morning for a month until you begin to see yourself the way the chapter describes you—the way God sees you in Christ Jesus. This chapter defines who you are in Christ—not someday in the future, not until the next time you sin, but right now, today, and always.
For more on overcoming the loneliness of shame, see Cindi’s books, The New Loneliness, and When a Woman Overcomes Life’s Hurts.
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Originally published March 30, 2025.
