November 3, 2024
II. Being ashamed misses the fellowship. There is a testimony of the Lord, even in the lowest places; even in the environs of pain that could easily be misinterpreted. They could be seen as disgraceful and distasteful. They could be seen as dishonorable, like Paul’s imprisonment. I mean, if you are such a powerful apostle why are you in prison? Why aren’t you on a stage? In the spotlight? On tour with thousands flocking to hear you? But what the world calls a prison God uses as a stage. Paul was not ashamed of his surroundings because he was operating in the supernatural.
He was not ashamed of the negative mockery he might get for the sufferings he endured because he was in an elite place of revelation; the price paid didn’t leave him feeling left out or overlooked or inconvenienced. He “gloried in his infirmities”. (II Corinthians 12:10) He relished the fellowships of suffering to know the power of his resurrection. (Philippians 3:10) He endured the thorns to get a closer look at His throne. So he didn’t feel cheated. He didn’t feel neglected by God. He didn’t feel shortchanged or underpaid; in fact he said for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21) He counted his losses in earthly successes and counted his gains in the sharing of the Gospel. (Philippians 3:8)
Being a partaker of afflictions has a reward of the power of God. But those who misread suffering can’t see this. They are visually stunted by what should have happened, by what didn’t take place, by who should have come through for them, by positions they should have received. Those who live in shame have a false filter through which all vision is distorted. It’s like going to the lively Carnival and standing in front of those illusion mirrors, the ones that make you stretched out and much taller or the ones that make you much shorter and heavier. It’s a mirror, but it doesn’t tell the right story, it doesn’t reflect the true nature; it doesn’t communicate the right dimensions of your body. And so shame deforms your perspective of yourself, it stretches out the rejections and shortens the confidence; it creates a different version of your soul then what God is looking at or what truly exists. Shame distorts the beauty until you only see the ugly. Shame hides the real you behind a pockmarked, war-ravaged wall of intimidation and fear. And you are left with, “they’ll never…listen now.
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