Want to rock the world? Offer God’s choices. Not shame.

In America, shame is as common as Ford F150s and cheeseburgers. Shaming serves as weird leverage to drive people to change. Shame is heaped on teen moms, former inmates, and folks who live in rich or poor neighborhoods. Shame whispers about the person with the risqué Easter dress or the church visitor who doesn’t know “the house rules” about seating. Shame flows through our heated and public exchanges on social media, through our public policy, economy, and politics.

Alex Jones on unsplash.com

Shaming others, when you think about it, is politically correct bullying. But what was the model Jesus demonstrated when dealing with sin, poverty, illness, or injustice? Could it be that shame short-circuits transformation – transformation in relationships, communities or systems – and implies a loathsome superiority? Who in the world wants to receive help or guidance or truth from someone who demeans people to the core?


One of the essential nuances of ministering to people – especially when they’re entangled in circumstances far different than our own – is never to shame them. Scriptures such as Romans 2:4 – “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” – offer an opportunity to sacrifice more than three seconds of reflection about how God deals with the twistedness of the world.

Skip Moen offers a compelling perspective. He says that the Hebraic view confronts choices, not a person’s inner dignity. He suggests this is the intention of Zephaniah 3:11, which uses one of the Hebrew words for shame, bosh. Moen writes on his blog:

Western shame attacks your identity, not your reputation. It is a lie! Hebrew shame, bosh, is about your outward stature, your public image. Of course, in Hebrew thought this is never far removed from what’s happening in your heart, but bosh is never about your essential unworthiness. It is about your destructive choices, and those can find atonement and forgiveness. The psychology of Western shame will keep you a prisoner forever. You cannot fix what can’t be fixed. But the Hebrew worldview doesn’t make this terrible mistake. It begins in the Garden. It knows you made terrible choices that damaged you and those around you. But a choice can be undone. Just wait.

Moen’s words are reminiscent of the Lord’s words to a sinful Israel in Isaiah 1:18:

“Come now, let's settle this," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.”

One of the moving words in that passage is the word though. God saw Israel’s sin, He described its ugliness, and He offered an opportunity to put that sin behind them and watch Him transform their spiritual condition. He also beckoned them to a new path. Look at verses 19 and 20 of Isaiah 1:

“If you consent and obey, you will eat the best of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword. Truly, the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

At another time in Israel’s history, when the people were on the brink of a major transformation as a nation, God made another invitation through His leader Moses:

“If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth” (Deut. 28:1).

Wow. God didn’t demean. He offered choices. Options. Israel was free to choose Him. Israel was free to reject His ways (read the rest of Deuteronomy 28). He offered great benefits for decisions that followed His lead and declared the consequences for those that don’t. What would happen if we were invited – or if we invited others – into a world of transformation like that? Surely, it
would rock the world.

This is one of a series of articles Dallas Leadership Foundation will post as we prepare for Transform Dallas on April 16, 2016. To participate or donate to Transform Dallas, please visit http://www.dlftx.org/transform-dallas.