The Monster Of Shame Series

I. Introduction

The Scare Factory illustrated in Monsters Inc. is still in full effect. However, rather than harvesting the screams of children to power the city of "Monstropolis", this scare factory harvests our peace and our sanity.

Adam and Eve fall in the Garden and believe Satan's lies and in the process, according to Romans 5:12, pass down sin and also their now captured thought processes. So, in the garden not only did we lose relationship, dominion, authority we lost our mind. Then Jesus shows up determined to restore everything we lost. You will remember that He declares we a part to play in this path to deliverance and restoration when He says in . . .

Matthew 22:37 (NIV)

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

Most of us have allowed Jesus to save our heart/soul but we haven't allowed Him to renew or redeem our mind. Paul knew this reality and declared in Romans 7:25 we serve the Lord with our mind. So, we must understand we can have a new heart and a saved soul and have the same mind.

We wrestle against principalities (principles) and so instantly they begin to think differently than they have previously. Let's go back and look at what happens and see if maybe the same monsters are prowling the recesses of your mind on a regular basis.

Genesis 2:21-25

So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

3:6-11 (NIV)

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

They eat the fruit to gain wisdom - mind power and in that moment, they are overtaken by mind monsters. I told you that one of the mind monsters that sets up rein in our mind was anxiety. Fear of something that is yet to happen. Now I want us to look at the second monster I can identify in these first few moments when our spiritual parents lost their minds.

Verse 7 - At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness.

I believe that in that one moment one of the principles that has been established in our mind is the principle (mind monster) of shame.

Look at their immediate response. They recognize the nakedness, cover themselves and hide.

They confuse a proper reaction of guilt and allow the monster of shame to overtake them instead. They have sinned. Guilt is acceptable. Guilt is an appropriate reaction to an action. Guilty is what I am when I sin. Guilt is responsibility. Shame, however, is identity based. They move from doing wrong, feeling wrong to thinking wrong. It isn't I did something bad I am bad. What I do is who I am. it is I am naked. So, now I am unworthy of the relationship I once had and enjoyed. They move from doing wrong to believing they are what they have done.

Isn't that how shame works? We get trapped by what happened to us and allow what happened to us last year, 5 years ago, 10 years ago, 30 years ago to label us and we become trapped. We can't believe that it was just something we did or something that was done to us and instead we become convinced that is who we are . . . Woman with the issue of blood. Our issue becomes our identity.