battles with shame

Yea, he put me so to it that my blood came up in my face, even this Shame fetched it up, and had almost beat me quite off. But at last I began to consider that that which is highly esteemed among men is had in abomination with God. And I thought again, this Shame tells me what men are; but tells me nothing what God, or the Word of God, is. And I thought, moreover, that at the day of doom we shall not be doomed to death according to the hectoring spirits of the world, but according to the wisdom and law of the Highest. Therefore, thought I, what God says is best, is best through all the men in the world are against it...Shame, depart, thou art an enemy to my salvation. Shall I entertain thee against my sovereign Lord? (Bunyan, John pp. 82-83)

Shame is not of God's Spirit, but our enemy. It works against us to bog us down in our sin. It places the focus on us rather than our crucified and risen Lord. Sin, along with shame, must be confessed and repented of (1 John 1:9), not used as a tortuous instrument crashing down upon us again and again. Faithful said it correctly, thou are an enemy to my salvation. Welcoming our enemy, in the name of piety, never nourishes our soul.