What is the most frequent item I pick up during my prayer walks around our campus?
Mini vodka bottles.
They’re everywhere — three billion of them are sold annually in the U.S. I’ll find them tossed onto the roadside, likely flung from moving cars. But more often, I find them in quiet clusters, tucked into corners of our church parking lot. Every bottle tells a story. Every bottle raises questions.
Why is the most common brand I find unflavored vodka?
Why would someone throw a mini bottle out of a moving vehicle?
Why pull into a church parking lot…just to drink?
One word: shame.
My hunch? Most bottles are part of someone’s shame story. Unflavored vodka doesn’t leave a scent — it's easier to hide from a spouse or coworker. The parking lot of a church feels… isolated. Safe. And tossing the bottle out the window means no incriminating evidence left behind.
Here's the thing - every one of us battles sin. Satan’s goal isn’t just to lure us into sin; it’s to bury us in shame. Because when shame kicks in, we start to hide. And when we hide, healing gets harder.
Shame whispers lies in our head like:
My sin defines me.
I will never escape this.
God won’t forgive me.
Others won’t love me if they know what I did.
I am alone in this.
I can only be happy when I do this.
It’s no coincidence that Adam and Eve’s first response to sin was to hide from God (Gen. 3:8).
But what did God do?
He came after them!
In his mercy, God always comes after us. “He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with him” (Dn. 2:22). And one day, all of it — every secret, every struggle — will come into the light: God “will bring both to light what is hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of the hearts” (1 Cor. 4:5).
We don’t have to wait for exposure. One of the mercies God offers to us in our shame is each another. James urges us to “Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (Jms. 5:16). Confessing to friends doesn’t bring God’s forgiveness, but it does allow the great detergent of light to start soaking up the stain of our sin. We confess to bring what’s hidden into the light with trusted community. Light is the best detergent for shame.
When we confess, we silence the whispered lies and declare God’s truth:
I am forgiven.
In Christ, I am righteous.
God loves me.
Others can love the real me.
I’m not defined by my past.
The Spirit empoweres me to overcome sin.
I can live in freedom.
Every one of us has a version of those mini vodka bottles in our lives — the thing we hide, the habit we excuse, the pain we keep private.
Don’t let sin grow in the dark.
Don’t let shame have the last word.
Confess to God and one another. Step into the light. Freedom is closer than you think.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn. 1:9).
You may also appreciate:
Wickedness and Unhealed Trauma
Photo by Tim Rüßmann on Unsplash