When struggling with an addiction, the feelings of shame and guilt can sometimes be overwhelming.
Especially when there have been attempts to stop the addiction with no prevail, we can be overcome with those crushing feelings and fall back into our addictions to try and fill the void they create. What’s important to remember with this topic is that there’s a difference between shame and guilt.
George Fraser explains that guilt is actually good. When we feel guilt, it’s an indication that we’ve violated our moral code and don’t feel right about it. Shame, however, is feeling bad about whom you are as a human being, and that’s very destructive.
Guilt can be seen as a gift from God, to give us a moral compass to use in life. If we’re doing something we know we shouldn’t, then that nagging feeling that something isn’t right can lead us to stop bad behaviors and bring our sins to God.
Shame, though, is from the enemy to weigh us down and drag us back into our addictions. It can be devastating to feel like we’ve failed yet again and cause us to feel like there is no hope and no reason to try. It creates a hole within us.
So when we are feeling shame and unsure how to deal with it, we tend to try and fill that hole with various things such as drugs, gambling, people, or other addictions.
What we need to realize is that the only way we can fill it and feel right again is by bringing our guilt and shame to God and asking Him for forgiveness. When we go to Him and repent for our sins, He will grant us with peace and forgiveness for whatever we have done. It is through God that we can overcome our hurts and addictions and find contentment and fulfillment that isn’t achievable through anything else.
