Friday, June 6, 2014

No Shame. No Guilt. We Have An Anchor Inside The Veil

"We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." - Hebrews 6:19-20 ESV

Yes. God anchors us from inside that which is eternal and that anchor holds. In storms and in great calm the anchor is there.

I was thinking yesterday of shame... when a person just can't look you in the face... not because they are oblivious or aloof but because they are looking down and inside and not liking what they see.

Guilt is hating what you do but shame is hating who you are. Here are a couple of examples in scripture that illustrate the point.

"Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame." - Psalms 22:3-5 ESV

"Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us."" - Genesis 26:10 ESV

There was a special offering for guilt.

"It is a guilt offering; he has indeed incurred guilt before the LORD."" - Leviticus 5:19 ESV

""This is the law of the guilt offering. It is most holy." - Leviticus 7:1 ESV

There was however no offering for a shame. God adopted the nation as His own and that was to cover their shame. The identity as God's chosen people was to displace hating who they were because they had an identity that was given to them.

""Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool." - Isaiah 1:18 ESV

"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." - 1 Peter 2:9-10 ESV

Jesus is our anchor. He covers what we do with a once and for all offering and He gives us a clean new identity to live in.

"The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms." - Deuteronomy 33:27a ESV

Our anchor will hold no matter what we face today. No fear. No shame. No guilt. We have hope because of the One who sits in Heaven.

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