Shame is a heavy thing that doesn’t just simply lie over your life. Shame settles deep in your spirit. It will make you rethink every choice you have ever made, even convince you that you are too far away from God. Let me assure you. If you ever hear that, it's not God's voice. Shame doesn't say you did something wrong. It says you are something wrong. Thankfully, that is not what God tells us in scripture. The prophet Isaiah once affirmed to God's people that the Lord would not let them be put to shame because God was their help. Now, notice the prophet didn't say their wouldn't be appropriate criticisms or even difficulties that come from living in a broken world. Faith promises us that our deepest identity is not found within our weakest or worst moments. Your greatest failures do not define you. God won’t shame you because God has already redeemed you and has no desire to humiliate you. To be redeemed is not simply to be corrected. Redemption is being claimed from brokenness and placed back into the family of grace. Redemption means your life is not a wasted experience that God is embarrassed to recognize. Redemption means God is still working with the story that is yours, even the parts you would rather hide or ignore. I can tell you with certainty that many of us struggle with shame. But rest easy in God's grace. You do not have to fake holiness to keep God from being disappointed in you. Your identity in Christ is not probationary. Walk in the freedom that comes from God's grace, a freedom from shame. God has already decided that shame, shame is not your name. You are redeemed, and God will not shame what God is healing. Stay blessed...john | 
Comments