Day 5
God, the Shame Breaker
Read: 2 Corinthians 4:7-18
SOAP: 2 Corinthians 4:15-18
For all these things are for your sake, so that the grace that is including more and more people may cause thanksgiving to increase to the glory of God. Therefore we do not despair, but even if our physical body is wearing away, our inner person is being renewed day by day. For our momentary, light suffering is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison because we are not looking at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen. For what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.
There are many things in our lives that can cause us to feel shame. Shame can be a cruel and oppressive master. But our God is greater. We have been freed and are no longer slaves to sin and shame. Though we will still fail and fall, His righteousness covers us, continually working in us to make us more like Himself.
We may feel weighed down and confused but, because the Lord holds us, we will never be crushed or destroyed. The same power that raised Jesus from the grave is the same power that lives in you. You can fight and win. You can run the race and not give up. You can get up, repent, and keep moving forward.
The power that lives in you is infinitely stronger than any sin that comes against you or any shame that tries to overpower and control you. God has gone to great lengths to save you, sending His only Son to endure shame for you. Shame may try to control you, but you belong to the great Shame Breaker. He is always working.
Lord, shame can be strong and debilitating in my life, but You have broken all the chains that tie me down. Open my eyes to the freedom I have in You. Give me a heart of freedom, as I long to live a life of peace, not one controlled by shame. In Jesus name, amen.