The Overcoming Life With Jimmy Evansنموونە

The writer of Hebrews says that Jesus “despised the shame.” The English word despise is derived from the Greek word kataphronesas. This word comes from kata, which means “from” or “away,” and phreneao, which means “thinking” or “mind.” Kataphronesas literally means “to think nothing”—not allowing a thought into your mind. As Jesus hung on the cross, Satan relentlessly attacked Him with thoughts of shame: “You are a failure; you are no good. What an embarrassment you are to your family. What an embarrassment you are to the Jewish race. What an embarrassment you are to your Father.”

Of course, everything in the natural seemed to line up with what Satan was saying. However, Jesus would not let any of those thoughts into His mind. He refused to think thoughts of shame even as He suffered and died the most excruciating death imaginable. Jesus completely and eternally defeated shame on the cross, and He defeated it for us too. In fact, we can only live the lives God wants us to live if we are free from shame. 

Shame’s intent is to cause each of us to feel hopelessly flawed: there is just something wrong with me. Shame causes us to hide and isolate ourselves. God’s truth, however, says there is no power in shame. There is no grace in shame. There is no freedom in shame. Shame is a prison that keeps us in the bondage of our sins. We can only be set free when we understand that not only are we forgiven, but also our shame is gone too.

Taking responsibility for our behavior and ceasing to blame others are the steps we must take to receive the blameless standing God wants to give us. Confession means telling the truth about my sins and problems. Repentance means taking responsibility for my behavior and making wrong things right. If we will take responsibility for our behavior, Jesus will bear our shame as our scapegoat—the one who takes the blame from us, so that we are no longer guilty. If we won’t, then we will find our own scapegoat, and we will not be set free. 

Is the statement, “God loves you just the way you are right now,” a difficult truth for you to believe? Why? How does His love invite you to examine your own shame and release it to Him?