SHAME
by
Dr. Gale A. Ragan-Reid (December 7, 2015)
“For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them” (Isaiah 61:7, King James Version [Blessings of the faithful]).
Greetings In The Holy Name Of Jesus,
My brothers and sisters, there is no shame in the love you have in your hearts for God wanting to be acceptable in all that you do, in the Name Of Jesus. There are times we find ourselves up against stiff competition to do our best in spite of the odds stacked against us and the poor conditions of our circumstances but the love of God tested and true you serve as a witness to all---pulled you through brought you from a mighty long way pushed back the disbelief and heralded in the saving grace of Christ Jesus to save you in order to save all of us for we are the one body of Christ Jesus with the spirit of the Lord GOD upon us. Let us not be dismayed rather be encouraged knowing and believing the anointing upon you from the LORD is powerful, indeed, able to “bind the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, open the prisons for those bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, the day of vengeance of our God, and to comfort all that mourn...” (Isaiah 61:1-2, KJV [Blessings of the faithful]). There are many folks who claim Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior who will put you to open shame and debase you just because, yes, I tell you no lie, just because you believe in God and you believe in His Son, Christ Jesus, loving them undeniably unto death do you part---all the days of your life “walking in the light, beautiful light that shines all around you by day and by night.” However, there are times when we put our own selves to shame not in the strength of Christ unable to accept that “sin lies at our door, counting our offering to God unacceptable as was the case with Cain, in so much shame until he killed his own brother, Abel whom God deemed presented an acceptable offering:” (Genesis 4:7-8, KJV [Murder of Abel]).
Most importantly, how many times do you think to yourself, intimately attracted to your own indulgences---that you have put Christ Jesus to an open shame, in your sins, crucifying him again and again in your hearts and minds and if you should fall away from the Word of God, Christ Jesus, do you feel a need to renew yourselves again unto repentance” (Hebrews 6:6, KJV [The priesthood of Christ]). Is it possible for you to be on the right side in your imagination---can you phantom enlightenment or gain a clue that Christ Jesus died for you but why did Abel have to die? Abel's offering was found acceptable by God and for that he was murdered by his own brother. Suppose that Cain was able to bear the shame of an unacceptable offering and repent of his apparent sin do you think he would have been any less of a child of God to have suffered through the darkness of his sin or do you think he would have become a greater man to bear the iniquity of his soul to witness to his brother and to Adam and Eve, his parents, his journey back to God? Did not his parents Adam and Eve suffer through their fall----the fall of man?
Moreover, do you remember those who shamed you or the situation that poured shame upon your face and how you lived through the shame and made it back to the light of Christ Jesus? How low were you debased in the darkness of doubt and disbelief and how far did you have to climb up and out come out from under the disgrace of the shame to renew your spirit---the spirit of the LORD God that is in you to feel acceptable once again by God not tarnished by the stench of sin---uncleanness? I am asking you, “Do you despise the sin?” Does it feel like many layers of dirt and grime on your skin so much so you know you need to be cleansed of the heavy burden that you bear because of the sin and you can no longer hide the truth from yourself, surely not from Christ Jesus who saved you and most definitely not from the LORD God? Are you, 'Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy
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that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2, KJV [The worthy fruits of faith]).
More importantly, in my personal journey, I, too, must openly tell you that I felt shame, many times---more times than I care to remember, as I think back through the ups and downs, the snares and traps of misfortune---the mess that I stepped in, either led by false friends, false family or through my own mistakes, errors of poor judgment that endeared false hope for those who could not take courage needed to lead anyone much less save themselves through the pitfalls of life navigating to stay in the light----that was the lesson learned to follow Christ Jesus, the Word of God because right at the moment I felt I could depend on someone else to help me through---I found myself caught up in sin, in need of Christ Jesus, for He alone saved me. How many times did you face death and God snatched you out of the hands of death? Was it a vehicle accident---car, truck, recreational vehicle, SUV, boat, bicycle, motorcycle, skating board, horse, and you can go on and on naming them? You survived to tell his story because your story is the story of Christ Jesus, his story. Was there other dangers like a bat, a glass container, a gun, an iron, a knife, “whoredom” (Ezekiel 16:32-63, KJV [Jerusalem's sin]) and on and on to revisit the grisly details of all the things that endanger life and take life if not for the grace of the spirit of Christ Jesus, then who truly could save you? Were you in a group, with another person or alone? This sort of questioning opens up your heart to the truth---a truth that tested you but you were able to bear it with the strength of God for it is God who gives you strength to defend yourself against the enemy death.
According to the Prophet Jeremiah, “We are confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame hath covered our faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the LORD'S house” (Jeremiah 51:51, KJV [Judgment of Babylon]). We think of Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon who captured Jerusalem and placed Judah in captivity in Babylon. How shame do you think “Judah was---Jerusalem on high was when Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard carried away 4,600 Jews to Babylon away from Jerusalem, in the seventh year, the eighteenth year and in the twentieth year” (Jeremiah 52: 28-30, KJV [Jerusalem is captured; The misery of Jerusalem])? Nevertheless, Judah prayed for forgiveness to God:
“...They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our streets: our end is near,
our days are fulfilled; for our end is come. Our persecutors are swifter than
the eagles of the heaven: they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid
wait for us in the wilderness. The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the
LORD, was taken in their pits, of whom said, Under his shadow we shall
live among the heathen'” (Lamentations 4:18-20, KJV [A prayer of
forgiveness]).
Hence, God is a good and just God and there is equity in God's judgment against His people---not that all should suffer and die, “Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die' (Ezekiel 18:27-28, KJV [Equity of God's judgment]). Surely, you must know I know how much temptation taps away at your door, at your window, to play in sin but you must persevere in the strength of God Almighty to resist the devil and go not into the darkness of that night, so many nights that turn to day catching you living a life of sin indulging in sin pulling others into sin with you denying your marriage to GOD---living in whoredom bearing iniquity upon your soul. God's equity even though it gave Nebuchadnezzar the 4,600 Jewish captives, it also turned him into a beast that hairs grew like eagles feathers and his nails like birds' claws---much like a man who changed into a werewolf, so, and Nebuchadnezzar also lost Babylon to Darius the Median and Cyrus king of Persia (Daniel 5:31; 6:28, KJV), for he did not get away with playing God before the Jewish captives and this
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is the story of unrequited love---lost love, lewdness, lust and sins known to man (Daniel 4:33, KJV [Nebuchadnezzar turned into a beast and lost understanding]). We must not venture down the path of this story of shame.
In closing, the pressures of following Christ Jesus is not a new reality for many suffered persecution of the cross and many transformed to new creatures reborn to live a God-filled life for joy cometh in the morning. Stay strong in the LORD. May God be with you. Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Amen.
