Thursday // 29th February 2024
The root cause of ‘blame’ is ‘shame’.
He [God] said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
(Genesis 3:11–13)
Shame is disorienting. Once we are in it, we are not very good at remembering how we got there. Shame is a big mess that causes your uniqueness and identity to fade away. All we remember is that something really bad happened to us. Then, when in doubt, we rely on the endless explanation that bad things happen to bad people and really bad things happen to really bad people.
You may have been victimized by really bad people—wicked people. People are wicked because wickedness is in their hearts. In their wickedness such people might defend themselves by blaming you. You might believe them because their anger is confident, and confident people are hard to disagree with. But that is a lie. Jesus and the early disciples weren’t really bad people, but really bad things happened to them. This alone should persuade you that bad things can happen to very good people.
Do not blame yourselves thinking that you will then have more control. If you are responsible for whatever went wrong or whatever hurt you then just strive to figure out how to keep it from happening again. You can do this when your senses are trained to think according to God’s word.
Let us receive the grace to get rid of all shame in Jesus’ precious name. Amen !
Your brother in Christ,
Apostle Ashok Martin
The root cause of ‘blame’ is ‘shame’.
He [God] said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
(Genesis 3:11–13)
Shame is disorienting. Once we are in it, we are not very good at remembering how we got there. Shame is a big mess that causes your uniqueness and identity to fade away. All we remember is that something really bad happened to us. Then, when in doubt, we rely on the endless explanation that bad things happen to bad people and really bad things happen to really bad people.
You may have been victimized by really bad people—wicked people. People are wicked because wickedness is in their hearts. In their wickedness such people might defend themselves by blaming you. You might believe them because their anger is confident, and confident people are hard to disagree with. But that is a lie. Jesus and the early disciples weren’t really bad people, but really bad things happened to them. This alone should persuade you that bad things can happen to very good people.
Do not blame yourselves thinking that you will then have more control. If you are responsible for whatever went wrong or whatever hurt you then just strive to figure out how to keep it from happening again. You can do this when your senses are trained to think according to God’s word.
Let us receive the grace to get rid of all shame in Jesus’ precious name. Amen !
Your brother in Christ,
Apostle Ashok Martin