shame separates—sorrow connects

Satan seeks to fill our souls with shame that separates. Paul labels it “worldly sorrow [that] brings death” (2 Corinthians 7:10). Satanic shame involves self-contempt and self-disgust that causes me to despair of all hope that God could love a sinner like me. Condemning shame convinces me that God has forever justly rejected me. Godly sorrow, on the other hand, is guilt that leads me to return to God. It reminds me of my absolute dependency upon Christ’s grace and invites me to come home to my forgiving Father. Shame separates; sorrow connects (Robert Kelleman, Soul Physicians, p. 107).