No Shame in His Game....
A few weeks ago, one of my children did something that was completely against the grain of their character.
I was so moved by their remorse and repentant heart.
Through tears, and tears, and tears, this child spilled their heart out about this folly. I listened and we prayed together.
Being a mother, I wanted to fix it all and just make my child's little world all better. I wanted to wave a wand over this folly and make it go away because of the depth of sadness my child was experiencing.
As I tucked the child into bed that very same night, my child said that they felt such shame and embarrassment. They were afraid of what I thought of them and what other people would think of them.
I read this child the scriptures of "who God says they are" that I posted last week. I read these scriptures over and over until this child fell asleep.
The scripture that resonated the most was this one....
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17
During this ordeal the Lord revealed to me that the way I felt about my child, and the heaviness of my heart, was how He feels every single time we are led astray by sin. He hates to see us suffer. He hates for us to have to pay the consequences for the sin.
The Glory of His Grace and Forgiveness for us removes all guilt, shame, and suffering. Not only that, but in return He offers us more than we even thought was possible....
This brings our Memory Verse for this week:
I was so moved by their remorse and repentant heart.
Through tears, and tears, and tears, this child spilled their heart out about this folly. I listened and we prayed together.
Being a mother, I wanted to fix it all and just make my child's little world all better. I wanted to wave a wand over this folly and make it go away because of the depth of sadness my child was experiencing.
As I tucked the child into bed that very same night, my child said that they felt such shame and embarrassment. They were afraid of what I thought of them and what other people would think of them.
I read this child the scriptures of "who God says they are" that I posted last week. I read these scriptures over and over until this child fell asleep.
The scripture that resonated the most was this one....
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17
During this ordeal the Lord revealed to me that the way I felt about my child, and the heaviness of my heart, was how He feels every single time we are led astray by sin. He hates to see us suffer. He hates for us to have to pay the consequences for the sin.
The Glory of His Grace and Forgiveness for us removes all guilt, shame, and suffering. Not only that, but in return He offers us more than we even thought was possible....
This brings our Memory Verse for this week:
"Instead of shame and dishonor,
you shall have a double portion of prosperity and everlasting joy"
Isaiah 61:7
This doesn't even make sense, does it?? I mean, even though we fail, even though we stumble and fall right smack into a pit of sin.....
Because of His Great Love for us....
He picks us back up, dusts us off....
Removes our shame...
Removes our guilt.....
Forgets the past and what we have done...
Promises to bless us with double for our trouble....
And....
Give us Joy everlasting!
Yet, we don't always believe that do we...
We get stuck in the shame....
We get stuck in the guilt....
All the while, God is just waiting for us to let Him dust us off and pour His Grace upon us.
Shame is never God's game, friends. If you are stuck in shame....
It's because the enemy is whispering shame in your precious ears.
Read that memory verse again, sweet girls. Bask in the sweetness of God's words to you.
The thing that I hope will stick the most with this child {and myself} is the depth of our Father's Love. The Grace of His Love that covers all of our ugly sins, and robes us in pure joy and righteousness.
"For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and draped about me the robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit or a bride with her jewels. The Lord will show the nations of the world his justice; all will praise him. His righteousness shall be like a budding tree, or like a garden in early spring, full of young plants springing up everywhere." Isaiah 61:10
shedding shame,
jill
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