January 31

God Thought January 31st

Now we can face shame from a stronger place, a place where sin cannot pull us under by lies 

about our unworthiness. Jesus stands up for us, he stands for us, and he stands in our place. 

We are worthy of love and belonging not because we have made ourselves worthy but because 

God has loved us into his kingdom. With this unshakeable worth, the church has hope of being 

a community of truly, deeply wholehearted people. If sin cannot keep us from God’s love, 

shame certainly cannot either. It’s the argument of the greater to the lesser. Because God has 

taken away our deep, more indelible sin that kept us from him, then shame has no true basis to 

steal away our worth in God. For we who are in Christ, we always have the ultimate last word 

against shame. I am covered by Jesus Christ’s righteousness. Death has lost its sting, the law 

has lost its power, and shame no longer has a valid claim on my identity. I am worthy. Say it out 

loud. There is nothing you could do to earn God’s love or to stop its flow from eternity past to 

eternity future. You stand firmly in the middle of this love tide that washes away shame. 

Shame’s lies threaten to attack you at the foundation of your identity, but it is in that very place 

where you have the security of a forever love. You are worthy, and you are in a community of 

fellow worthy beings. The church is a place where we find joy in our rescue and hope in the 

love poured out in our hearts through the Spirit. Therefore it is also a place where shame 

cannot thrive. For nothing is more powerful than a community’s recognition of a person’s 

worthiness. The church can drive shame away as often as it tries to slither into the cracks of 

our weakness and brokenness. For shame does not understand that these very places are the 

glue that binds us together, the source of our communal strength. Our weakness and 

brokenness serve to remind us of our common rescue and the abundant grace poured out into 

these very cracks so that shame is expelled. We are all simultaneously laid low and raised high 

at the foot of the cross; we are humbled by our sin and exalted by God’s gracious love on our 

behalf. So shame cannot tell us anything about our inherent unworthiness that we have not 

already faced and been rescued from. It can do nothing to take away the love that guards and 

keeps us until the day of Christ Jesus when shame will disappear forever.

Nelson, Heather Davis. Unashamed (pp. 164-165). Crossway. Kindle Edition. 

Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”[o]) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. Romans 8:35-37 NLT

Tomorrow we begin by reading Philemon.