“All of us have shame scripts and shame triggers. It’s anything that makes us feel unworthy, unwanted, or unloved. How do we overwrite these shame scripts? The same way we rewrite any negative narrative. Scripture is our script-cure. That’s more than a play on words. It’s the only way to win the shame game.”- Mark Batterson
“Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God.”- Genesis 3:7-8 (ESV)
Mark Batterson continues Chapter 9 of A Million Little Miracles as he stresses that there’s nothing wrong with feeling guilt over what we’ve done wrong. Because when the Holy Spirit convicts, that shows evidence of a conscience. In addition, just as pain often indicates a physical problem, guilt often indicates a spiritual problem.
However, Mark counsels, shame is an entirely different animal. For shame consists of feeling bad about who we are. Thus, shame involves a negative feedback loop.
Certainly, Pastor Batterson acknowledges, if you play the shame game, it leads to the blame game. For example, consider the excuse Adam offered God after he ate the forbidden fruit. He blamed Eve. And Eve foreshadowed Flip Wilson’s character Geraldine — the devil made me do it!
As a result, Adam and Eve tried to hide from the All-Seeing Eye. Pretty funny, Mark admis, if their action wasn’t so sad. Above all, Mark quips, we’ve been playing hide-and-seek ever since!
So, the author underscores, to become like Jesus equates to becoming like a child. Seeing things with childlike eyes all over again. Therefore, Mark exhorts:
“Repentance doesn’t just result in forgiveness. By faith, it flips the wonder switch back to the on position! We start seeing everyone and everything as wonderful. What about things that are wrong and ugly? We see the reality of those things too, but we also see everyone and everything as redeemable.”
Today’s question: How do you use Scripture as a script-cure? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Response-able for everything”