Shame is a secret that you keep
with the enemy of your soul. It’s like a boil that festers and infects your
spirit, never allowing it freedom to rest or heal. Do you have a habit that you’re
ashamed of that makes you feel bad about yourself? That’s shame. Is there or
was there someone in your life that you couldn’t help and you feel guilty about
it? That’s shame. Have you gotten up in someone else’s business when it really
wasn’t any of your business and caused a rift in the relationship that’s never
been resolved? That’s shame. Has someone
hurt you and you’ve never gotten an apology or an admittance of guilt yet you
feel bad and carry a sick feeling? That’s shame.
Shame is like being hooked up to
an I.V. of poison that is slowly killing you. It not only kills your spirit but
it has a myriad of physical ramifications also! We tuck our shame away deep in
the recesses of our psyche because it doesn’t feel good to think about it and
no person wants to feel bad. We think that if we hide it away or don’t
acknowledge it that it will stay buried but it doesn’t. It festers and corrodes
our hopes, our dreams and it holds us prisoner. How many of us live lives that
are sick and weak because we let the fear of exposure hold us captive? Or maybe
you enjoy playing the martyr and it allows you to spend your lifetime blaming others
rather than taking personal steps toward healing your own spirit through the
guidance of the Holy Spirit? How many of us choose to distract ourselves with
hobbies or obsessions just so we don’t have to face the root problems? Is there
any hope for us and our small thinking?
I believe that all of life comes
down to two things, desire and choice. Saint Frances of Asisi made a choice in
his prayer when he said, “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where
there is hatred, let me sow love, where there is injury, pardon, where there is
doubt, faith, where there is despair, hope, where there is darkness, light,
where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console, not so much to be understood as to understand,
not so much to be loved, as to love; for it is in giving that we receive, it is
in pardoning that we are pardoned, it is in dying that we awake to eternal
life.”
If we treat ourselves with as
much mercy as we would treat others, then our desire to be healed and whole
will not be something we need to get from others but it will come from
ourselves. Treating ourselves with kindness and concern sets us free rather
than thinking we need all that from
others in order to have freedom. I believe that the mind-set of, “Someone else
causes my pain.” is what holds us in a constant state of need and resentment.
We must ask the Lord to be our all and desire only Him to be our salvation,
freedom and source of healing. Our freedom will not come from someone else
changing, but in our desire to change ourselves.
Healing is between God and us. It
would be wonderful to get resolve and healing from those we have issues with but
we can’t live a life of waiting. That’s a life of imprisonment. Our quest to be
set free from shame is on our plate and Christ is present and willing to share
that meal with us. We must pray for the courage to pull our shame from our dark
closet and offer it before the Lord. If we are willing to realize that although
others may cause us pain, it is ultimately our journey to sit alone with our
Savior and break bread with Him, allowing His nourishment to heal our tattered
spirits. His Holy Spirit is our source of healing and it will only be through
God that we will be set free of our shame. As Saint Frances of Asisi said, “Lord,
make “ME”…” not “Make others”. It is
time my brothers and sisters to take responsibility for our own shame and stop
focusing on the shame of others. Healing comes only through quiet time with our
Lord. We have to stop our busyness and start desiring that time at His feet.
Shame makes us run from quiet because it is in that quiet that our fears are
revealed and felt. The secret that the enemy keeps with you is a lie and we are
falling for it! We are choosing to live lives of fear, shame and ineffectiveness
rather than lives of freedom and joy all because we believe that our fears are
bigger than our God! Choose now who you believe is bigger, more powerful and
more compassionate! Is it satan or Jesus? Who desires freedom for you, satan or
Jesus? Who wants you to experience joy, satan or Jesus? Which do you desire? Until
we make that decision we will remain sick from the poison of shame.
Isaiah 41:10, “Do not be afraid,
for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen
you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.”
Blaming others is just an excuse
we use to remain in our shame. We proclaim that we are helpless to be joyful
because “they” won’t set us free. Many times too, “we” are “they”. The prison
door has been unlocked by Christ our Savior and it sits before us open. We are free to leave….so why do we remain?
1 Peter 5:7, “Cast all your
anxieties on Him because He cares for you.”
Isaiah 61:1-3, “The Spirit of the
Sovereign Lord is upon me, because the Lord has appointed me to bring good news
to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to announce that
captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. He has sent me to tell
those who mourn that the time of the Lords favor has come, and with it, the day
of God’s anger against their enemies. To all who mourn in Israel, He will give
beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of despair. For the
Lord has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for His own glory!”
For whom do you live your life,
for God’s glory or your own? Is your life all about “you” or all about “Him”?
I have to go now and take my own advice
in these matters. This lesson is a tough one to dive into but I know it’s the
right thing to do. Letting go of all my excuses is scary. This is going to be a
process and I can only do it by abiding in Christ every step of the way. Make "ME" Lord....
No comments:
Post a Comment