It's been awhile since I could sit down and read a book. Too much going through my muddled mind but I finally finished one while on vacation and have started The Christian Atheist by Craig Groeschel. I got through Chapter 2 last night dealing with our shame. I didn't understand what shame did to us, how it worked in the deepest parts of who we are, until I started opening up and talking about it with some professional listeners. Shame is a tool of evil that is used to put us in our place, to remind us we are not worthy of God's love and that He can't really want a child like us, one who does bad things. Yet, the Bible is filled with stories of people who did shameful things and were reconciled with God. Peter may be one of my favorites. Jesus tells Peter that he will deny Jesus three times and Peter responds with (I'm paraphrasing a bit) "nope, not me, never." And then, guess what? Peter denies Jesus three times and then feels the grief of his actions. So what does Jesus do? He tells Peter to go and feed the flock, to proclaim the good news. Now, I would be inclined to go proclaim the good news quietly, still ashamed of my actions but Peter uses Pentecost for his pulpit. Do I think Peter still wishes he hadn't denied Jesus? You bet. Did Peter let his shame continue to hold him back? No.
I hope more and more Christians will learn to deal with their shame and guilt, to get it out and feel the forgiveness that God showers on us so that they may move forward with God and not be stuck in the past.
Grace and peace to you.
2 comments:
Yet we are so afraid of bringing our "stuff" to the light. Once it is put there, Satan can't use it against us any more.
Nice. I was listening to some Christian speaker while working on schoolwork or whatever and out of all the words "In the new creation there will be no more sin, sin will be gone" pierced my heart. I am conscious all the time of my sinful nature and the shame that I feel because of that. There is hope, in the new creation there will be no shame.
I mean of course I know and trust in the salvation brought by the cross but that doesn't mean that I am not conscious of my venial nature, and how much that is not the "hero of God" I want to be.
I appreciate the topic, thanks for writing, nice to know there are others out there who are wrestling in the faith.
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