“Remember those walls that we called sin and shame?
They were like prisons that we couldn’t escape
But He came, and He died, and He rose
Those walls are rubble now”
This is our God, Phil Wickham
“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners…”
Isaiah 61:1, NIV
Good news.
Much of the Bible is about the good news of the Kingdom come.
This is the Gospel. That Jesus came to give hope to the hopeless, show the Father to the orphan, bind up the broken hearted, proclaim freedom for the captives and our release from the darkness of our sin and shame.
Shame is probably one of the most vicious, heaviest chains we carry.
Shame is the very definition of a vicious cycle. Not only is it rooted in sin – both sins committed by and against us – but it also inevitably becomes the root of further sin as we dig the hole in our hearts deeper.
I need you to realize today that you can be a model Christian and live a near perfect life, especially in the eyes of others, and yet be struggling with some aspect of your ‘private life’. You can be a good, Jesus-loving, God-fearing Christian, and still have a room in your heart that you have not yet surrendered to Christ.
It took me years to finally let go of the shame of my addiction, and it might not be easy for you either – but there is hope. As you build your prayer life… As you read about Jesus… As you allow the Holy Spirit to breathe life into the text of the Bible and let the Word come alive in you… As you surrender that room in your heart to God and let Him in you will find that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ, but instead a superior hope, a peace that surpasses understanding and a joy unspeakable and full of glory.
The solution to every sin-problem and shame-condition is the unconditional and absolute love of God found in Jesus Christ.
I want to urge you to let Jesus into that area of your life where you are experiencing shame and hurt. Whether that shame was caused through something you did or something that was done to you – there is healing in Jesus.
Don’t let shame force you to live a life of fear, insecurity and hopelessness.
There is hope. There is Jesus.
You are loved. You are His. He loves you and He will never stop, no matter what!
Prayer: Lord, help me today to see the areas of my life where shame has a hold of me. Help me see the vicious cycles in my life for what they are. Where they might feel never-ending, where it might feel like I am perpetually going in circles, help me see that You are the Way, the Truth and the Life. You are my way out of this slow of despondency. You are my way out of the cycle of shame. Help me, Lord, to see that I am not who my shame says I am, but rather who You say I am. I am loved. I am Yours. Help me recognize the areas of my life where I need to repent. Come into my heart Lord and rearrange my furniture. Come and show me what I need to keep doing and what it is I need to stop doing so that You may be glorified in my life. In the Mighty Name of Jesus. Amen.