No Condemnation, Shame or Anything Else

There is indeed no condemnation in Christ.

Yet for people like me who had been raised in such rigid religious conditions, shame and condemnation were the full-on norm in many homes.

I was raised that way.

No wonder  I spent a great deal of my life running away from challenges and difficult people.

No wonder it was so difficult for me to take on challenges and challengers and venture into new exploits.

The fear of failure has a deeper root - and that root is condemnation.

No one wants to feel wrong, shamed, put aside, rejected.

That need for acceptance is so strong, that people would rather die than lose face.

Yes indeed, they would rather lose their lives than lose face. Such a recognition explains why ancient Romans soldiers would fall on their swords rather than be captured by the enemy.

Such also explains why most people would rather be in the coffin than give a eulogy at a funeral.

Today, I have learned without any doubt that there is not only no shame, no condemnation in Christ Jesus, but that this reception of the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness sets me free from all the reproaches of men and women in the world.

No one can lay a hand on us, no one can speak against us, for even if we have done wrong, we can know and believ that the grace of God superabounds, and that His righteousness leads us to His life working in our lives.

We do not have to fear our sins and shame, our past and future, for everything is all wrapped up in the grace of God, which works abundantly within us and teaches us to say "No!" to sin and yes to godliness.

People can't hurt me. They never could. Whatever reproach they try to visit on me, all of its receives the sharp check and rebuke from the blood of Jesus, which cleanses and speaks better things than the blood of Abel.

The sense of shame and hurt hit me frequently in my life. People would say weird or unkind things, or I was just all too ready to take what they said personally.

What is it about people? We will take things personally if we are convinced that there is always something wrong with us.

Now that I have the full assurance of the Cross, any sense of shame or hurt is automatically dismissed. Those feelings do not matter. Our hurts do not matter, for they do not define who we are before God.