The Cone Of Shame

Last night, I picked up our dog (Iso) from the vet hospital.  Iso spent a few days for surgery after he ate one of my dress shirts, a dish towel, and some other things.  When I picked him up, I was given a list of instructions and medicines required following his treatment.  I was also given an Elizabethan Collar which is supposed to keep him from licking his wounds.  The E-Collar kind of looks like a plastic lamp shade that goes around his neck.  If you’ve seen the movie Up, it’s also called the Cone of Shame.  It’s as if Iso has been given a Scarlet Letter to tell everyone that he was the knucklehead who decided to eat shirts and towels and other non-food items.

People aren’t given a Cone of Shame when they do something wrong, but we sometimes where the marks of our transgressions.  I have a scar on my leg which tells the story of me wearing shorts on a job site where I was helping to build a house in high school.  Scars and other misstep indicators come in many shapes and sizes.  Sometimes the marks of our mistakes aren’t visible, but they are enforced by people around us.  In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, we see this lived out in the story of Hester Prynne.  In the story, she conceives a child through an adultery and is forced to wear a red “A” on her shirt, so people will know that she committed adultery.  The red “A” is kind of like a Cone of Shame – it’s embarrassing, it amplifies our failings, and it makes it challenging to live a normal life.

I don’t know what you’ve done in the past.  I’m sure you’ve screwed up somewhere in the past.  I know I’ve messed up more than I care to admit.  Why are you wearing your Cone of Shame?  Do you know that you can find freedom and forgiveness from your past?

In Romans 8:1-2, Paul reminds us that Jesus came to take away our Cone of Shame.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.

Sure we have to deal with the consequences of our sin here on earth.  But there is incredible good news for those who follow Jesus.  He came to take away the guilt and shame of our past.  He came for you and me.  He came to set us free from the Cone of Shame.

How does this change things for you?