Shame is a heavy chain the enemy loves to use to keep believers stuck in the past. It has been described as “a painful emotion resulting from an awareness of inadequacy or guilt.” But in Christ, that chain is broken. Romans 8:1 proclaims one of the most freeing truths in the entire Bible: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (KJV). If you are in Christ, you are no longer defined by what you have done or even by what has been done to you. You are defined by what Jesus has done for you. Bible scholar Albert Barnes puts it this way: “The gospel does not pronounce condemnation like the Law. Its function is to pardon; the function of the law is to condemn. The one never affords deliverance, but always condemns; the object of the other is to free from condemnation, and to set the soul at liberty.”
Condemnation keeps us hiding from God. But transformation leads us to run to Him. Shame whispers, “You’ll never change,” while the Holy Spirit says, “You are being changed.” God’s grace does not excuse sin, but it sets us free from the guilt and weight of it. He does not shame us into transformation; He loves us into it. That love removes the sting of the past and replaces it with a future full of hope. Barnes continues, “There is no final condemnation under the gospel. The function, design, and tendency of the gospel is to free from the condemning sentence of law. This is its first and glorious announcement, that it frees lost and ruined people from a most fearful and terrible condemnation.”
Freedom does not come from ignoring our failures; rather, it comes from confessing them and receiving God’s mercy. Psalm 32:5 states, “I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,’ and you forgave the iniquity of my sin” (ESV). True freedom is found when we stop running from our past and start running into the arms of our Redeemer. His blood has already covered it. His Spirit is already renewing you and me.
Walking in freedom means you and I no longer live as slaves to shame. We walk from shame to freedom with our heads high, not in pride, but in confidence that Jesus bore our shame at the cross. Our transformation is not about pretending to be perfect; it is about trusting the One who is. Let go of the guilt. Embrace the freedom. You have been set free (John 8:36).
