The Heart Of Man: Overcoming Shame And Finding IdentitySample

THE CAVE -- Pt. 1

“I wonder if one of the greatest truths that I and people like me might hear is that God is with me in my darkness. That God is with me in my shame. And that He’s with me in my addiction, in my pain, in my unsettledness, in my woundedness that I don’t want anybody else to see.”

The cave is the final destination on the road to the evil one’s ultimate sleight of hand — a believable lie. It’s a lie that says this time you have gone too far. “I am too broken, too failed, too disgusting to love, to really love. Not just that big love He has for the whole universe. That love doesn’t really help me right here. It’s too general. I need to know that He loves . . . me. Uniquely and distinctly me. Here, in all the moments of my betrayal. 

I know He died on the cross. I know that gets me to heaven. But this . . . this stuff I do — that's different. It feels too ugly, too repeated, too indifferent to the holiness of God. Could it be true . . . that even this is covered by Jesus?”

The moment you put your faith in what Jesus did on the cross for you, all manner of incredible happens to you. Near the top of the astonishing list of realities is this: You receive a brand new core identity. Your shame story, all of it, was eradicated at the cross. And that wonderful transformation holds, even in the midst of your darkness. 

 Reflection: What difference would it make for you to believe that God is with you in the darkness?