“Shame is a prison, as cruel as the grave. Shame is robber and it’s come to take my name. Love is my redeemer, lifting me up from the ground. Love is the power where my freedom song is found…” These words begin the song "Ain't No Grave" by Cageless Birds and Molly Skaggs that was released in 2018. Give it a listen. It's a great song that will stay with you.
My friend Laci McClain inspired this episode. She is the embodiment of beauty from ashes, and she gave us permission to use her words and credit her. Thank you, Laci.
Shame is a powerful and horrible straight-jacket. It holds us captive. It keeps us bound up. It is a loud mouth liar… taunting us from the inside. It replays mistakes. It reminds us that we are not really lovable.
It convinces us, if they really knew who we are; if they really saw the real me, they would not love me; they would not want me; they would be ashamed and disgusted.
Shame causes us to put on a show, to wear a mask, to pretend we are someone else; Someone we “should be”.
The Word says that we can throw off our garment of shame (fear of being see and known in all the depths) and we are GIVEN a garment of righteousness (right standing with God).
Too often, I find myself attempting to put on the garment of righteousness over my shame. (That is super heavy and doesn’t fit right.) I find myself believing that I have to carry my shame because I deserve it. I’m the one who messed up. I’m the one who fell short. So this is my burden. I find it hard to lay my shame down and put on a pure clean robe that I didn’t earn. In my pride I find myself rejecting it at times- knowing that I could never earn such a position.
The truth is, I want to be able to earn it. I guess that is where pride is rearing its hideous head. However, love in Christ—the love that picks up my blood stained robe and puts it on as his own then places his perfect, new, spotless robe on my shoulders, and calls me worthy—that perfect love is the only place where I have ever found real freedom from shame.
Freedom from shame is not a one time event. It is a continuous process. It is a daily and sometimes moment-by-moment process. I have to choose to let go of my mistakes—the pain I have caused myself and others, and ultimately God—and put on what I did not earn. I have to accept that I will never be deserving of the righteousness that has been given to me. I will never be fully refined or arrived. My mistakes are not something to be ashamed of but they are something to learn from.
Shame wants to brand me and wants me to believe that I am only a combination of all my mistakes and accomplishments.
Love says something different. Love says I am a child, I am loved, I am wanted and accepted just as I am. It calls me higher but bends down low to meet me here, in the darkness of my despair. It tells me my mistakes, my weaknesses, my talents and accomplishments are only part of the journey to love.
We are so much more than what we do and what we have done.
If I believe I need to do more, I might be dwelling in shame.
If I believe I was made to be more, I might be growing in love.
Doing is always an overflow of being. Being loved, known and seen as I am—all of me—is the only way I can ever be truly free from the grip of shame. In that freedom, I can do the things that are being asked of me with out the pressures of perfection, performance, fear and a need to be seen, which are a
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
jackandjohnpodcast.com
Facebook
Instagram
