Shame Off You

I've been reading the "SISTERCHICKS" series by Robin Jones Gunn. The thing I love the most about good Christian fiction is how God's truth is weaved throughout the story line. Sometimes I believe God uses fiction to speak into my life just as much as He uses profound writings by scholarly authors of non-fiction. It happened just this past week...

All of us have heard...and probably have had someone say to us at one point or another... the words, "Shame on you". It's a phrase that parents frequently use when scolding their children and perhaps it's not given a whole lot of thought to. In the story I was reading, two friends were sharing parts of their life journeys with one another. Sensing that one of the friends was carrying a heavy weight of shame, the other friend turned to her and said, "Shame off you." Shame off you! I was completely struck in a way I have never experienced when I read those three words. Never in my life have I heard that statement. What beautiful, liberating words! For those of us...(because of abuse, childhood hurts, our sin and the sin of others, etc)... who have been shame magnets and know what it's like to live with a heavy load of shame, words such as these are life giving! To be able to speak freedom from bondage into somebody's life. That's powerful! God's Word Says in Isaiah 54:4 , "Do not be afriad; you will not suffer shame; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth...". Romans 10:11 says that, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." Shame off you. Shame off me. Jesus took our shame upon Himself when He was on the cross so we wouldn't have to bear it. Not then. Not now. Not ever. What a beautiful Savior.