On Easter Sunday we celebrate the ultimate victory over shame as Christ triumphs over death and the cross and resurrected in honor! "Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne." -Hebrews 12:2
King David, through his covenantal love for Jonathan, showed unbelievable mercy and grace to Jonathan's son Mephibosheth. In the midst of Mephibosheth's shame, David demonstrated Christ's intent and power to set him free.
Jesus didn't just overcome shame, He removed it and restored to us our true identity. This week, we talk about how Jesus demonstrates His great love for us when He invites us to overcome our shame. But we aren't doing it alone. He joins us for the journey.
To overcome shame, we have to go the one place shame doesn't want us to go: a place of vulnerability. In today's message, we talk about how the true superhero we need is not superman, but Vulnerable man embodied in Christ, and how His life modeled a life of intimacy, connection, and vulnerability that gave us a blueprint out of shame and into freedom!
In the temptation of Jesus, the devil used shame to attack Jesus's identity. The devil used schemes that are familiar to all of us: the performance trap, the popularity trap and the possession trap. Jesus, like us, faced the onslaught of shame, but overcame the temptation and in the process gave all of us a template on how to have victory like Him!