Don’t stay married to your shame to keep up appearances.

Let it go.  When we hold on to things, people, places, situations because we are worried what people will know and what people will think, we are a slave to shame.  We aren’t even doing  what we want or even what God may want.  We are living to please others and to keep up a false perception.  I lived in that state/shame for a good chunk of my life.  I was living to keep up an appearance worried about what people will think and being perceived as a failure. Then I reached a point where I realized “WHO CARES WHAT PEOPLE THINK!”  I would never be happy if I continued to hide things. 

Sure, it was hard to tell people the truth at first.  It was embarrassing – at first.  But when I began to experience the freedom of letting go of that which was hurting me, controlling me, manipulating me, I cared less and less about people knowing or finding out…because I was free.  I’ve realized that hiding my past shows a lack of repentance and the likelihood that I repeat the same mistakes are extremely high.

We will never truly experience the awesomeness of Jesus and the reckless love of God when we remain married to shame. 

Divorce that thing!  Let it go! 

You don’t deserve shame…and shame doesn’t deserve you either.  You are so much better than you think and God thinks you are amazing.  Shame may look great.  Heck, at times it may even feel great.  But, leave it to shame to smack you around and make you feel horrible at times and leave you stressed out hoping that no one finds out.  And shame knows it can because what keeps you married to it is fear of what people will think; fear of being judged and criticized.

Remember the woman caught in adultery?  She was dragged out into the street to be stoned while naked.  Talk about shame.  When all those people walked away and she was left there with only Jesus, you tell me how much it mattered that those people judged her.  The only thing that mattered was what Jesus thought.  He didn’t condemn her and that’s all that mattered.  He just looked at her and told her to no longer do what got her in that situation.

Why do we care what other people think more than what Jesus thinks? 

I’d even venture to say that sometimes we need to even question what we think Jesus thinks because I’ve found situations in my life where I thought Jesus thought a certain way, but it was really being filtered through what others thought … or what I was taught to believe. 

You are no longer a slave to fear.  You are a child of God!

You are no longer a slave to shame.  You are a child of God.

You are no longer a slave to opinions of man.  God is your Father and it’s only His opinion that matters in your life.

Live free, joyful, in peace, in love. Live in Jesus!