Overcoming shame (Part 2)
Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrew 12:2
In the beginning, Adam and Eve were naked and did not feel shame, but after the fall, they sewed fig leaves to cover themselves and hid from God. It is human nature to feel ashamed when our private parts are exposed.
Imagine being beaten into an unrecognizable pulp and hanged physically and fully naked in front of your family, friends, and people you know. How would you feel?
There can be no greater shame and humiliation than that which our Lord Jesus endured for us. Aside from being mocked before crucifixion, He was hung naked for three hours and I doubt the Romans would have allowed a towel to cover His lower body.
It was Jesus who took away both our sin and our shame. In one of the divine exchanges, Jesus took our shame so that we might share His glory ”. We cannot remove our shame by ourselves, no matter how hard we try or how much we do. If we try harder or do more, we will not be able to remove our shame. No matter what we feel ashamed of ourselves or what happened in the past, Jesus already TOOK away our shame on our behalf, and the question is how to trade our shame for His glory.
The word "despised" is noteworthy in today's key verse, Jesus despised shame”. Shame is supposed to make us feel despised, but Jesus despised shame the other way around, and I imagine the internal dialogue of Jesus: “Shame! You are a despicable fool. Do you really believe that you can destroy me? Shame! .I'm about to strip all your works and power with my resurrection power.” That's the power of the cross, Jesus despised shame, so we can too!
The glory of God is known as light (Revelation 21:23). It requires our faith to trade our shame for His glory, so that we no longer withhold our brokenness and pain from God in darkness, but expose all our shame to Him. Shame dies when exposed to light.
It takes deep trust, honesty and a contrite spirit to come to God, so that we can let go of our shame and allow His transforming power to remove our wrong beliefs, and we can see how Jesus can turn our shame into glory. Let's flip the table and say to shame, "I despise you. Through Jesus, I am sanctified, justified, and glorified."
Blessing prayer: Jesus, you are the shame breaker and we praise you for giving us new life so we can be new creations in Christ and share in your glory forever. In Jesus’ Name, Amen
