The Grace Package

Today's lesson is about shame and God's unmerited favor; grace. People who are ashamed form an image of themselves to work towards . . . one that would be acceptable to others, and one they themselves can agree with. If they are fat, they work to be thin. If they are awkward, they seek fluidity of speech and movement. If they feel socially unaccepted, they study how to be received in social circles.

Shamed people seek to be acceptable in man's eyes and all their efforts are a tangled web of bondage, never knowing their true identity and ever running after the inner-affirmation of perfection. Shame does not mold people to be sons and daughters of God, for in the end of their lives they will love their molded image more than God's image.

The Holy Spirit sets people free in exchange for their mold. A captive released from darkness will see his unique design by the the Lord. God's favor to those entangled by shame will mend their broken hearts and cause them to feel acceptable to God and in their own eyes. It is an unmerited favor called "grace". The Holy Spirit brings with Him a "grace package", described in Isaiah 61.

God's "grace package" brings the inner healing people need. He sets them free by releasing them from darkness. The Holy Spirit brings comfort, taking away the grief and mourning of rejection felt from self and from others. God makes provision for us so that we can lay down despair and have hope once again. He gives us true inner beauty, gladness of heart and praise in our spirits so that we will not feel disgraced. And in taking away our shame, the Holy Spirit brings out our true identity as people who minister for the Lord. Those who have been restored to God's image can restore others to God's image as well.

 For those who have been molded by shame, there is a better, yes a far more excellent image to be molded into. Set aside your entanglements and invite the Holy Spirit to open His "package" up in you. Focusing on your faults was never God's idea; it is your enemy's plan to defeat you. Satan wants men and women to stay focused on weaknesses and faults so that they will feel separated from the One who can take their shame away; God. Though you yourself may think yourself undeserving, opening up the "grace package" will change your life forever. Amen.