(Today, Shame’s back at the keyboard, ready to fill you in on his grand entrance to planet earth. What he is forgetting is that by giving you more information about who he is and where he comes from, he is actually helping you build a personal arsenal to take him down. Shhhhh….I won’t tell him if you don’t…)
I’m back!.
Where did we leave off yesterday?
Oh yes, the infamous Tree. Satan’s infamous lie and your infamous choice.
I can see that garden like it was yesterday.
You reached for that fruit, brought it directly to your lips with the excitement and anticipation that comes when trying something new. (Why is that forbidden things offer the greatest sense of thrill?)
Your heart was racing as your teeth sunk deep into that produce. Its peel cracked under your bite, releasing a juice you had never before tasted. Intoxicating and overwhelmingly sweet.
As you wiped the addictive nectar running down your chin, you wasted no time in sharing the delicacy with the only other human that shared the planet with you. You watched as he, too, took an eager bite.
But the extreme pleasure of that first bite only lasted a moment. As they always do. What followed the sweetness of that pomegranate of possibility, the “knowledge of good”, was an awful, bitter aftertaste, stinging your tongue and burning all the way down into your soul. Your first taste of the “knowledge of evil”.
Immediately, you realized that you’d been played for the fool. That God had been right in keeping this fruit from you after all..
In a panic, your mate threw what was left of the half-eaten fruit on the ground. You both desperately tried to spit out the poison. But it was too late.
The damage had been done and death had entered your world in one disobedient bite.
When your terrified eyes met each others’ looking for answers, comfort, ANYTHING, you realized that something had shifted. Instead of answers you found confusion and disorientation. Your vision had changed and you saw things differently now. He looked so different from you and you from him.
Until that bite, neither of you had ever realized that you were naked, and the shock of that “enlightening” moment sent you running for cover. Your eyes had been opened all right and you couldn’t unsee what was in front of you. Your differences in nakedness left you feeling unsafe in each other’s presence.
What you didn’t know was that you had committed your first sin. You didn’t even have a name yet for a wrong choice that had never existed until now. Sin was what left that bitter aftertaste in your mouth.
But sin didn’t come alone. Sin brought two others that came into the atmosphere right after he did.
My brother and me!
This is the day that we were born and since then we’ve followed Sin wherever he goes.
My twin brother, Guilt, made his entrance first and is the older just by moments. At a glance, we look similar and many get us confused because of the Sin family resemblance, But we each have our own identity, characteristics and personalities.
In reality, we couldn’t be more different.
People say that Guilt is the Good Twin and I, Shame, am the proverbial evil one.
That he inspires change and I create havoc.
That he amounts to something useful and that I am merely a hindrance.
That he deals with the facts, while I am more a “feelings” guy.
He tells you that what you did was bad but I tell you that who YOU are is bad.
He tells you to turn back toward the light and I beckon you to hide in the darkness.
That might all be true. But I know this. Guilt was there when you took that first bite, but I was the one to make you and your partner run and hide. I was the one that let you know you were naked and had you anxiously sewing together leaves to cover yourself while the Serpent slithered away laughing.
Guilt, who speaks through your conscience, told you to go to God and talk to Him about it. To confess what you’d done and make things right with your Father. Of course he did.
But I, the one who delves straight into your psyche, convinced you to stay as far away from God as possible. To hide from the One who had given you everything you needed. Who loved you more than anything.
Once again, you used your power of free will and chose my advice.
I don’t mean to brag, but I had you cowering in the bushes like a hunted animal, hiding yourselves from each other in your leafy costumes. Both of you hiding from God.
Not bad for my first day’s work on the planet.
I’m Shame. I make people hide. It’s what I do.
But for reasons I can’t get my head around, God came looking for you. He always does that. It’s so irritating. Why? He’s all-knowing. He knew what you’d done. That you disobeyed Him. Distrusted Him. Completely turned your back on His provision and protective guidance. But here he was, calling out for you by name, like a Father looking for His child, even though He knew exactly where you were.
You were hiding but He was seeking.
Guilt gave an admirable shot at trying to convince you once again come clean. “Tell your Father everything! Make things right! Tell him you’re so sorry. Restore the relationship. Trust His heart and His love.”
You, however, listened to my voice, and when you and yours finally answered His call you told Him that you were hiding because you were naked, saying nothing about your disobedience.
You can thank me again. I, Shame, will cause you to make excuses and not deal with the truth.
Convincing you to see things my way was so much easier than I thought it would be. Maybe because my voice sounds so similar to the sound of my Serpent Father, all cunning and sly?
Then God, who knew completely that there was so much more to this story said,
“Who told you you were naked?”
If no one had told you, if you had discovered this nakedness on your own, then that meant that your eyes had been opened to things you’d never seen. Which could only mean one thing…
“Have you eaten from the the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
Again, He already knew the answer to His own question.
“Think fast,” I whispered to the two of you. “Avoid the obvious simple one-word answer and point to someone else!”
Your partner responded first.
“It’s not my fault! That woman YOU gave me, SHE made me do it!”
I was impressed. He was able to blame both you and God for the same crime. Clearly, my influence was impacting him.
Guilt was there again, now begging you to please just confess, to lay it all out on the table. But I reminded you that doing so would only cause you to feel vulnerable and naked again.
So once again, dear, gullible woman, you listened to me. You quickly shifted the blame your husband had sent in your direction on to my father, the Serpent, taking no responsibility whatsoever.
“The Devil made me do it!”
A blame game that has come down through the ages.
And yes, this, too, is the work of yours truly.
You were a quick learner of this lesson to blame and shame ( others. You made my job too easy.
Guilt just shook his head in disbelief. I just couldn’t help smirking.
So this is where I began. Where my career in destruction began. Where my plan for you and your future began.
On day one of my existence I had single-handedly taught you how to:
HIDE – from God and each other
ISOLATE
COVER UP
MAKE EXCUSES
SHIFT BLAME
Sin brought you down. Guilt tried to warn you. But I brought you in. Misery, after all, does love company.
And now you know where I come from and how long I’ve been around.
There is oh so much more to my story as my career against humanity continues. But that will have to wait for now.
I AM SHAME.
