Confronting Our Shame

To say that we have strayed from our created ideal is a gross understatement, and yet I’m still realizing just how much so. For example, I’ve known for some time that my Achilles heel is the deep need to be accepted, which manifests itself in a high work ethic and feeds my perfectionism. Beneath this is a fear that I am somehow unacceptable, and therein lies my shame. Shame says that I am less than, and it mistakenly neglects the crowned glory and honor I possess as an image bearer of the Most High. Instead, I don a covering of proverbial fig leaves, believing they present me acceptable to the world.

The gospel brings good news for our shame. It says that yes, we are completely messed up, but we are absolutely accepted because of Christ. Oh, the freedom to acknowledge our shame in light of a Savior! “...he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present [us] holy and blameless and above reproach before him...” Colossians 1:22