Sin’s Twin (Romans 7)

Each of us has a story of shame. We feel shame for the wrong we’ve done, but we also feel shame for the wrong that’s been done to us. The horrible truth is that sin is indiscriminate. It hurts and shames the one who is guilty and it hurts and shames the one who is innocent. Adam and Eve were given a commandment: do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Incredibly, they were naked and they felt no shame. Then the serpent deceived them, and she and Adam did the one thing God told them not to do.  God’s command was good. It protected them, connected them…but the serpent used the command to cause them to sin. Shame researchers agree that the only way to counter shame is to do the opposite of what shame wants us to do. Shame wants us to hide from the possibility of being hurt. But the only way forward is through. Shame research is “discovering”what God has been doing all along: turning towards us with vulnerability. Crucifixion was designed to not only kill but to humiliate. The cross is not only about sin, it’s also about shame. Jesus confronted sin and shame on the cross through vulnerability, defeating it once and for all and making a way for us to be healed.