You are
ashamed, and perhaps you have turned your back on God for you assumed He has
turned His back on you. In rebellion you
may have now committed additional shameful sins, only making your problem
worse. You have accepted your shame as
your unchangeable identity and you live as an outcast, shut down emotionally,
isolating yourself so you never have to be hurt again. You numb your pain with drugs, sex, power,
success, abuse of others, whatever enables you to stop feeling the shame. But it keeps coming back like a recurring
nightmare.
Jesus went
to the cross and, bearing your sin and shame, He cried out “It is
finished!” The infinite expanse of God’s
mercy and grace is bigger than you are, bigger than anything and anyone that
might come against Him. He can take all
of your guilt and justify you. He can
take all of your shame and grant you the riches of His glory (Eph 1:18). And now, like Jesus, run the race, despise
the shame for the joy set before you.
Count it as nothing. Put on His
glory.