Her life was a total wreck. After five failed marriages, she finally gave up. She stopped telling herself that one day she would be accepted, maybe even be respected again. Every day she came to the well when the sun was at its hottest. She knew no one else would be there, and she could draw water alone, hiding from the comments, the whispers, and the condemning looks. (John 4:5-30)
He had been born into a well-respected family. His pedigree was impeccable, his training was thorough and his accomplishments were impressive. He burned with a religious zeal that was unmatched by his peers, a fierce defender of his faith. But with each arrest and execution of the heretics, he retreated further inside his own tormented mind, hiding from the pride, guilt, and self-hatred that relentlessly pursued him. (Philippians 3:4-6)
These two individuals tried to hide their guilt and shame in the wrong places. But they experienced the power of God’s grace to break shame’s hold over their lives, and were embraced by His liberating love. And we can be also!
The Shame Game
Shame has plagued the human race since Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the forbidden tree, and immediately “realized they were naked, vulnerable, and ashamed; so they sewed fig leaves together for coverings.”
(Genesis 3:7, The Passion Translation)
“And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God…” (Genesis 3:8, KJV)
Adam and Eve experienced the devastating effects of their sin immediately. They lost the covering of God’s glory, and they saw the shame of their own human bodies, uncovered and naked.
And for the first time they heard God’s voice, not within their spirit, but outwardly, with their physical ears, almost sounding like the voice of a distant stranger, not the loving Creator they had known.
Adam and his wife were cut-off from God’s life, stripped of His covering presence, desensitized and deafened to the voice of His Spirit, all as horrible consequences of their sin.
Their first instinct and inclination was to hide. They were now guilty before God, and vulnerable before their enemy. They had become the ancestors of a fallen race, sinful, weak, damaged, and death-doomed, living in a dangerous world.
As their descendants, we also came under God’s righteous judgment. We were exposed to retribution and rejection from others. And we were made vulnerable to the condemning accusations and cruelty of the evil one.
And all of mankind’s “fig leaves”, sewn together with the flimsy, wispy threads of worldly pride and self-righteous religion, could never cover our naked shame.
Hide and Seek
So… confused, empty, hopeless, naked, and lost, we also hid!
We hid in isolation. And we hid in full view of the world, drowning ourselves in our work, consumed by our ambitions, and obsessed by our pursuit of fame and wealth.
We hid in the laughing audiences in the theaters. We hid among the cheering fans in the arenas.
We hid daily, as we kept our faces in our Facebooks and our eyes on our IPHONEs.
We hid in our busyness. And we hid in our recreation, even though we didn’t find the “re-creation” that we so desperately needed.
We hid in our bragging and we hid in our shyness. We hid in our laughter, even as our souls groaned and wept under the heavy, unbearable load of sin, guilt, shame and condemnation we constantly carried.
We even hid in our ministry.
Our Life… Hidden in Christ
But just because our pride moves us to hide our shame in the wrong places, doesn’t mean that our instinct to hide is completely wrong. It isn’t.
We do need a place to hide, but we need to hide in the right place!
¹ “Christ’s resurrection is your resurrection too. This is why we are to yearn for all that is above, for that’s where Christ sits enthroned at the place of all power, honor, and authority! ² Yes, feast on all the treasures of the heavenly realm and fill your thoughts with heavenly realities, and not with the distractions of the natural realm. ³Your crucifixion with Christ has severed the tie to this life, and now your true life is hidden away in God in Christ. ⁴ And as Christ himself is seen for who He really is, who you really are will also be revealed, for you are now one with Him in His glory! ” (Colossians 3:1-4, Passion Translation)
Jesus’ death and resurrection is the only remedy for our sin and shame. There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)
There is only one place to hide that offers the protection that we seek. There is only one place where all our sin is removed and all our shame is covered. There is only one place where we no longer need to fear. That place is in the heart of Jesus Christ.
Shame always pronounces us guilty and deficient. Jesus pronounces us guiltless and promises that His amazing grace will be sufficient in all of our human frailties, and weaknesses.
“So it is impossible for God to lie for we know that His promise and His vow will never change! And now we have run into His heart to hide ourselves in His faithfulness. This is where we find His strength and comfort, for He empowers us to seize what has already been established ahead of time, an unshakable hope!
(Hebrews 6:18 The Passion Translation)
Abide in Christ
In His invitation for us to abide in Him. He offers us a place of refuge, rest, and refreshment. He brings us into the center of His heart, a place where we can be freed from our pride-fueled shame, as we allow Holy Spirit to develop our humility-fueled faith.
That’s what happened to the woman at the well. Jesus opened His heart to her and invited her in. She then opened her heart to Him. Her sin-wrecked life was redeemed, and her shame was removed. Her testimony concerning Christ touched an entire region with the love of God.
The Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus, who had lived in the wretched darkness of his religious pride, was blinded by the Light of the World on the road to Damascus. His sin and shame were removed, as he stepped out of religion and into Christ. The Apostle Paul’s testimony concerning Christ brought the saving power of the gospel to untold millions, and forever changed his world and ours. He said:
¹⁶ “I refuse to be ashamed of the wonderful message of God’s liberating power that is unleashed in us through Christ! For I am thrilled to preach that everyone who believes is saved, the Jew first, and then people everywhere! ¹⁷ This gospel unveils a continual revelation of God’s righteousness, a perfect righteousness given to us when we believe. And it moves us from receiving life through faith, to the power of living by faith. This is what the Scripture means when it says: “We are right with God through life-giving faith!”
(Romans 1:16-17, The Passion Translation)
Like Paul, and the Samaritan woman at tbe well, we have experienced the transforming power of His love. The shackles of sin, guilt, shame, and condemnation have been shattered, and our hearts have been set free! Hallelujah! Yes, our hearts are free indeed!
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