Repentance can feel daunting at times. There are many voices telling us different things—the Spirit inviting us to change and repent, Satan professing that repentance isn’t possible, our own minds whispering that we are not enough. How can we know which messages originate from God and which ones are Lucifer’s? distinction between shame and guilt to be very helpful in making this judgment. When examined through a gospel lens, the shame-guilt framework organizes the key doctrinal principles of divine worth, agency, and repentance into a model that helps distinguish God’s voice from Satan’s lies. “shame is the intensely painful feeling or experience of believing we are flawed and therefore unworthy of acceptance and belonging.”1 Guilt is “a sense of remorse and the desire to make amends.”2 Shame is character-based (“I am a bad person”), whereas guilt is action-based (“I did a bad thing”).3 Shame leads you to want to shrink, hide, and disappear.4 Guilt identifies an action that you regret, prompting you to change for the future.5 Inherent Worth Social science further elaborates that shame attacks your character, asserting that at your core you are worthless. Such lies often lead to self-loathing and condemn you to a lifetime of misery, forever believing you are unlovable and don’t belong anywhere.6 Feelings of guilt, on the other hand, do not attack your self-worth and generally do not include self-loathing. Instead, guilt reminds you that your actions are not in line with your values and identity. This realization often prompts you to change those actions and become better.7 Church doctrine is clear on how God wants us to feel. Our inherent worth as children of God means that we are never worthless, even when we have sinned.8 The Spirit’s voice will never encourage you to hate yourself, rather reminding you of your eternal worth as a child of God .

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