Grace full mama

The enemy has a hey day with shame. In this day and age when overt sin has become vogue, shame is that hidden thing inside that we often mislabel as “anxiety.” Shame is the shadow that follows us on bright, beautiful days, stealing our joy. It isn’t the same thing as repentance or conviction. Shame has no route out of the horrible, miry black pit that it creates. Shame’s whole purpose is to keep us right where we are at. It is a final destination if we aren’t rescued from it. Conviction leads to repentance, which leads to freedom. Shame tends to cause people to either hold their heads a little lower everywhere they go, or else to rebelliously declare that their sin is not, in fact, sin.

Jesus painted us a rather beautiful picture of shame, and his response to it, in the parable of the prodigal son. I’m sure you know the story. A man had two sons. One son decided that he no longer wanted to live with his father, and demanded his inheritance early. The bible tells us he squandered his inheritance with reckless living. He wound up in the middle of a famine, with no money or way to feed himself. He worked for a pig farmer, and his mouth watered and his stomach growled with hunger at the pods that the pigs ate, while he ate nothing. It is helpful here to remember that the Jewish people did not eat pork. Pigs were to them a pretty foul creature, certainly very unclean. So this was the lowest position possible for our prodigal buddy. Let’s name him Joe, shall we?

Well, Joe realised that the pigs were eating better than he was, and he was starving to death. He thought about how well fed his father’s servants were. He decided that he would go to his father and tell him how much he had sinned, against God and his father. He would tell his father that he was no longer worthy to be called his son, but he would be grateful to be a servant in his house. Imagine how that would feel? Imagine the shame he felt, unsure of whether he would be accepted even as a servant.

And then comes my favourite part of the story! Here Joe is, plodding along, his heart pounding out of his chest, his head held low. He looks up longingly at the place he had called home, and he sees something barrelling towards him, cloaks fluttering behind him like a flag in the wind. His father had been waiting, watching for his return, binoculars tuned towards the end of their road. When he saw the beaten down speck that moved like his son, while his son was still a long ways off, he ran towards him full speed. I imagine that there were tears running down his cheeks as the dam of love for his son broke.

Joe just had to turn towards his dad. He didn’t have to walk the whole way home alone. He just had to show up. He wasn’t met with a lecture. His father gathered the servants and had them prepare a feast. He clothed his son, gave him a ring for his finger and shoes for his feet. “My son was dead, and now is alive! He was lost, and now is found!”

You see… shame is a liar. There is nothing you can do that will cause your father in heaven to beat you over the head and declare you no longer worthy. Nothing. Shame will try to keep you from the father by telling you that you are no longer worthy to be his child, but I promise you, those words will never come from the mouth of our incredible father in heaven. He is watching with binoculars for the speck that is you to come back towards him. He declares you worthy. His is the only opinion that matters.

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:23-24

I know as a mom, shame often tries to disqualify me. “You aren’t worthy of your children. Remember when you didn’t do this perfectly? Remember when you got frustrated? Remember when you failed? You ARE a failure.” The enemies words could so easily get me to take my eyes off the father and get derailed. The truth is… we have all sinned. All of us. We can all relate with the prodigal son. None of us are worthy in our own right, but we are worthy because HE DECLARES US WORTHY. His word is law.

Have you ever seen the movie “A Knight’s tale?” In it, there is a peasant quire who poses as a knight and competes in jousting tournaments. He gets caught and put in the stocks, people throw rotten vegetables and him and belittle him, much like shame does to us. But then Prince Edward comes. He declares that the peasant actually is a knight, with lineage going way back. He finishes his speech with “This is my word… and as such is beyond contestation. Now, if I may repay this kindness you once showed me… take a knee.”

Our Father in heaven’s word is beyond contestation, friends. No more shame. Lift up your head and run to your father. He is waiting to restore you.