What is shame? Have you experienced shame? If so, where does shame show up in your mind and heart?
Shame often signifies a deep feeling of unworthiness or inadequacy related to one’s spiritual self. It frequently stems from the perception that one has fallen short somehow. It is usually a voice in our minds that whispers lies to us. Spiritual shame makes us feel like we don’t quite measure up. We feel like we’re not good enough. Shame is a deep-seated sense of unworthiness. You may feel like you’re not valuable and that people don’t like you.
Let’s look at Luke 5:12-15 to get a look at a man who experienced shame:
Let’s look at Luke 5:12-15 to get a look at a man who experienced shame:
“While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.’ Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!’ And immediately the leprosy left him. Then Jesus ordered him, ‘Don’t tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.’ Yet the news about him spread all the more so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses.”
I can’t imagine what it must have been like to have leprosy! It sounded beyond awful! Can you imagine the shame? Can you imagine living in a place where when people saw you, they moved away from you, keeping their distance? People with leprosy were treated as outcasts and shunned by society. They were excluded from their families and communities. They lived on the outskirts of town as beggars. They were required to warn others not to come near them.
I love when the leper saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” (5:12) The leper didn’t ask if he could heal him, but if He was willing to heal him. Jesus gave this leper the divine gift of compassion and healing. Kristi McLelland writes “Jesus moved toward him, reached for him, spoke to him, healed him, and sent him to the priests to fulfill Levitical law.”
It's Jesus who made the man clean. It’s Jesus who makes us clean, by inviting Jesus inviting into our hearts and experiencing His salvation. Don’t be ashamed of Jesus; He’s not ashamed of you! Jesus is the healer of wounded and shame-filled souls. Psalm 147:3 says “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”
You are a child of God, fearfully and wonderfully made. Your worth and value come from God alone, not from what others say about you or do to you. You are who God says You are.
Nancy Abbott is the Chaplain of the YMCA of Greater San Antonio.
I can’t imagine what it must have been like to have leprosy! It sounded beyond awful! Can you imagine the shame? Can you imagine living in a place where when people saw you, they moved away from you, keeping their distance? People with leprosy were treated as outcasts and shunned by society. They were excluded from their families and communities. They lived on the outskirts of town as beggars. They were required to warn others not to come near them.
I love when the leper saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” (5:12) The leper didn’t ask if he could heal him, but if He was willing to heal him. Jesus gave this leper the divine gift of compassion and healing. Kristi McLelland writes “Jesus moved toward him, reached for him, spoke to him, healed him, and sent him to the priests to fulfill Levitical law.”
It's Jesus who made the man clean. It’s Jesus who makes us clean, by inviting Jesus inviting into our hearts and experiencing His salvation. Don’t be ashamed of Jesus; He’s not ashamed of you! Jesus is the healer of wounded and shame-filled souls. Psalm 147:3 says “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”
You are a child of God, fearfully and wonderfully made. Your worth and value come from God alone, not from what others say about you or do to you. You are who God says You are.
Nancy Abbott is the Chaplain of the YMCA of Greater San Antonio.
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