“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.”
~Ephesians 2:13
Our ‘therefore’ condition from verses 10-11 has encountered ‘but now…’ in verse 13.
‘But now’ indicates a change of circumstances, a change of conditions, a change of being, a change of reality, a change in identity, a change in priorities, a change in our operating system, a change toward hope, a change in our relationship with the Trinity, a change in our understanding and ability to understand, a change in our response-ability…
We are now no longer the person of our past. We have been shaped and influenced by it, to be sure, but our past does not hold or define our identity. No matter the shame that we have borne through our actions or by the actions of others unto us, we are now set free to become all that the Trinity has invited us to become; through the power of the Spirit, through the will of the Father, and because of the blood of the Son.
Our past shame is most often found to be unbearable, and it is unbearable… to us! For this reason, the Trinity bore it for us that we should bear it no longer. We are invited to experience a change to receive grace and not hold shame. We are called to hope, not hopelessness, homecoming, not homelessness, intimacy with God, and not façade.
Shame no more; for ourselves and toward others… We are free!
Shame and guilt are not the same.
Shame is a pervasive feeling of self-belittlement and devaluation. Guilt is a self-reflective emotion of criticality for one’s moral actions. Shame is about who you are, while guilt is about what you’ve done.
To understand the magnificence of what God is offering us through the sacrifice of Christ, we need to go back to the Garden of Eden as recorded in Genesis 2:25. The first humans—the culmination of God’s creation, made in His Image—“The two of them were naked, the man and his wife, yet they felt no shame” (JPSS).
I believe that the significance is not the absence of clothing, but the complete grasp of the man and the woman to know themselves, each other, and God with complete intimacy; no barriers impede this knowing.
When the man willingly turned away from God to determine his own identity—and used the woman as a scapegoat for his decisions and the deception she experienced against her as an excuse—the peace was shattered, the guilt was experienced, and the shame was realized into the core of his epigenetic being.
Not all shame is unhealthy. Shame acts as a compass point indicator for something wrong or amiss; most certainly appropriate when we set out to determine our being apart from the identity God has already provided us. Shame is a line that points us in one of two directions: further down inward and into a cycle of self-loathing, or upward and outward to experience the redemptive power of Christ.
But now… Paul tells us in verse 2:13 that upward and outward change can be made when we let go of the identity of our fallen state and embrace the identity that God is inviting us to embody through the gift of redemption—another of the blessings spoken of previously in chapter 1:3.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.”
Remember: Shame is about who you are, while guilt is about what you’ve done. Shame can bless us by pointing us back toward the only identity that matters—the one God has for us. Guilt can bless us by realigning our choices to the moral compass of God’s true north.
Every morning at the beginning of your day, stand in front of the mirror and look yourself in the eye while telling yourself the following:
- I am a child of God.
- I am beloved.
- In Christ, I am a New Creation.
Every evening at the end of your day, quiet your heart and close your eyes as you incorporate the following into a prayer conversation with God:
- Thank God for the day behind you. You may want to bring specific items before him, including the teachable moments where you were not “at your best.”
- Ask God to let your mind, soul, body, and spirit experience rest as you sleep as it lets go of your old identity and embraces the one you have in Christ.
- Praise God for His promise to walk with you and guide you back into deeper intimacy with Himself and others.
