When God pulls us from the pit of our filth, misery, and self-destruction, we’re given a gift. We get to live the rest of our days with a profoundly deep sense of gratefulness and joy we would’ve never experienced without veering mightily off the path. I’m not advocating that we glamourize our past moral failures in any way, but if your story is similar, then it’s time to take back your voice and celebrate.
When Jesus overheard the condescending disciples whispering about the woman who broke her alabaster box at His feet, he defended her by saying, “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” Friends with a “darker” past…even if your extreme sins are recent or happened since being saved…if you’ve repented, you’re forgiven. And so, you have a gift.
Shame says we must present squeaky clean versions of ourselves to appear worthy or “Christian enough.” But our complicated, messy stories are the exact narratives the world is dying to hear. Not only is our testimony more powerful when we embrace how far we’ve come, but I believe we’re meant to produce fruit from those dark, shameful things we’ve been delivered from.
There’s a reason God allowed Saul, a Christian-killing hypocrite, to encounter Jesus and eventually carry the Gospel personally. It’s the same reason God chose David, another murderer with a weakness for bathing women, to claim the sole honor of being called “a man after God’s own heart.” Sin isn’t their most important commonality. It’s their unbelievable love and joy in the Lord because of how much they’ve been forgiven.
Don’t let the enemy censor your beautiful redemption story. God reached down further into the mire, searched longer through the night, and worked harder for your rescue…and that is a truth worth posting. We may never bring Him perfume in heaven, but I can’t wait to run to Jesus’ feet someday, screaming in gratitude. I might never leave.
Related Resource: Hope for Overcoming Shame or Discouragement
As a board-certified clinical neuropsychologist, I can say with a fair degree of confidence that probably everyone can relate to experiencing shame and disappointment. We’ve all had high hopes and expectations that didn’t turn out the way we wanted, and we’ve all experienced shame over what we’ve done or said, or failed to do, or because we haven’t met our own or others’ expectations for us. In this episode of Your Hope Filled Perspective, we are talking with guest counselor and coach Tina Yeager about hope for overcoming discouragement or shame.
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