Past The Thorny Crown

"Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe... So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, 'Behold the man!' " - John 19:1-2, 5 ESV

"Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain." - Mark 4:7 ESV

Thorns create a barrier of painful experience and yet Jesus endured wearing them on His head in full identification with us. That crown must have made carrying the cross that much more difficult.

I think having painful thoughts is a part of our human experience. We all have them at times. Jesus knows all about that. He led a shame free and guilt free life but He knows.

He wears a different crown today.

"I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all." - Ephesians 1:16-23 ESV

He identified with us and now we identify with Him. He experienced shame and pain and we experience glory and majesty.

"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus," - Philippians 2:5 NKJV

God gave us a way to handle the thorns. Jesus is the way. We think with Him. He is past the pain and He extends His hand to us to bring us past it also.

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Shame And The Soul

"For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul?" - Mark 8:36-37 ESV

A good question.

Guilt is when we can't face what we have done. Shame is when we don't want to live with who we are. It is self hate.

Our soul is who we are. We are souls with bodies.

Jesus valued souls highly. What about us? Jesus continued doing what He was doing until they hung Him on a cross. Then He gave his life so our guilt and shame would be covered and blotted out.

He loves us. Our soul is precious to Him.

Today I'm going to let God love me. I don't have time for shame. I won't sell out to guilt. It is finished. The cross has paid for my soul issues.

It has also paid for your soul issues. Jesus has a way out of our love/hate relationship with ourselves. It is called the cross.

"And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, 'Who do people say that I am?' And they told him, 'John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.' And he asked them, 'But who do you say that I am?' Peter answered him, 'You are the Christ.' And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him. And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, 'Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.' And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.' " - Mark 8:27-38 ESV

Peter eventually stopped selling his soul to preserve his life. He had better things to do.

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The Excitement Of Opening Day

We gather because we have an expectation that something is going to happen.

"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." - Hebrews 10:23-25 ESV

Let me first say that one of the things that I love about being a believer is that it renders guilt and shame oriented obligation useless. Conviction is useful but guilt is foreign and abandoned. Jesus became my guilty one. My sins were put on Him. Guilt is never a means to gather because guilt is never a means period.

If you have been part of a play or complicated dramatic production what do you do as opening day gets closer? You gather together more and more to practice and prepare. Why? Is it guilt that draws you? No. It is desire. When that curtain goes up everything you have worked for will be presented to a group of people and that is exciting and scary and wonderful all at the same time.

'The Day' this passage in the book of Hebrews is talking about is the day of God's visitation.

When that curtain goes up the people see the actors and hear the music. Props are moved on cue and the things people are doing behind the scenes become visible to the spectators. At the same time the actors feel the audience and hear their applause. Both groups are seen and experienced by each other.

The same is true on God's day of visitation. God is there observing us and we are there observing Him. All of this is happening as something prepared beforehand is unfolding before us.

I don't want to be a person that has nothing to look forward to. I want to be a person that expects God to show up. God Is faithful. Since I know that to be true I always have something to look forward to. That manifests as a general air of expectation but it also manifests in specific expectations of divine appointments in scheduled gatherings.

If you have ever experienced a visitation of God then you know what it's like but if you haven't I'm not sure if I have the words to explain it. It is the most wonderful transcendent thing.

I don't want to miss it and grace removes all the barriers from us receiving all that God Is in those times. There is no guilt or shame there. God is there and we are in the best possible place to be for that moment in time.

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Grace Cuts The Bars Of Bondage

"I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the LORD, the God of Israel, who call you by your name." - Isaiah 45:2-3 ESV

I really like this verse. This is victory where we find hidden amassed treasure. It is not an attack we barely survive and have scars from. It is the conquest and discovery of secret things. Doors and security bars are cut open to reveal hoards of riches.

The treasure chest of time is found.

The hidden rooms of freedom are discovered.

The riches of creativity and integrity hidden away by guilt and a defeated self image see open air and sunshine for the first time.

"Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness." - Psalms 29:2 ESV

"Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth." - Psalms 50:2 ESV

"God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." - John 4:24 ESV

"But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters." - Luke 11:20-23 ESV

Who is the stronger man who kicks down the door and takes what has been locked up by lies and greed. Jesus is the stronger man. He sets us free then because of grace we live free.

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." - Galatians 5:1 KJV

"Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery." - Hebrews 2:14-15 ESV

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you." - 1 Peter 5:6-10 ESV

Yes. Let words of grace come in.

"Thus says the LORD, 'Though they are at full strength and many, they will be cut down and pass away. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more. And now I will break his yoke from off you and will burst your bonds apart.' " - Nahum 1:12-13 ESV

Let the reality of grace cut the bars of the bondage of anxiety. Worship though you may be in a prison cell. Worship and the Earth will quake. The crumbling and shifting of your fragile humanity will cause pressure on the temporal structures built upon the sand and they will come down. Only what is on the rock will remain and that structure is shining and glorious.

"We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped! Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth." - Psalms 124:7-8 ESV

The name of the Lord is grace. Jesus is the name of the Lord!

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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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Salvation That Dissolves Guilt And Shame

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God." - John 3:16-21 ESV

John 3:16 is one of the most magnificent statements ever recorded. In one sentence it reveals God's deep abiding love and plan of salvation. The greatest love by the greatest person giving the greatest gift and saving anyone from the greatest danger an individual can ever face.

Then in the verses to follow Jesus dismantles evil's most potent weapon, fear, by dealing with the twin roots of fear... guilt and shame.

Guilt is fear because of what we have done. Shame is fear because of who we are. Our works in darkness prove our love for darkness and as creations made in the image of God this love of darkness creates a conflict. Shame is the evidence that the fallen world, that lays down in wickedness, has made it's way into our self image.

God never sent light to us to condemn us. He sent Jesus to save us and part of that salvation is the rooting out of guilt and shame.

"Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him" - Hebrews 7:25a KJV

Jesus not only gives eternal life. He gives freedom. Freedom from what we have done and freedom from seeing ourselves as dark beings who do horrible, faulty broken things. The condemnation we lived in is now gone. It was put on Jesus and nailed to a cross.

"This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." - 1 John 1:5-7 ESV

"But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, 'Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.' Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise," - Ephesians 5:13-15 ESV

Objective faith is what pleases God. Objective faith is walking in the light.

"And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." - Hebrews 11:6 ESV

Jesus won us a great salvation. He died on a cross and now lives to hand us a gift of eternal life.. no strings attached.. no effort on our part.. a pure free gift. Salvation is a one time thing but freedom from guilt and shame is ongoing. Like Joshua we take back the land piece by piece even though before they crossed the river into the land God declared the land a 'promised land' and gave them the legal rights to it.

"Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love." - 2 John 1:3 ESV

Grace, mercy and peace are the antidotes that counteract and overrule our fallen life. God gives them in objective love and it pleases Him when we have objective faith.

Today is a new day. Shame can have us hiding and flinching at life or faith can cause us to live in the freedom of the finished work. God isn't done giving us gifts. He wants us to own our day. He wants us to live by faith in it. Let's go take what God has given us.

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The Cure For What Plagues You

"So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, 'If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.' They answered him, 'We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, 'You will become free'?' Jesus answered them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." John 8:31-36 ESV

Fear, guilt and shame. Individuals deal with them and they rule cultures in varying combinations. We are very naturally attracted to people who seen immune to these motivators. They appear to be the 'alpha dogs' to our fallen animal nature.

Shamelessness is anathema to the religious man but it is very attractive to the natural one. Freedom from shame seems like paradise. So does freedom from guilt and fear.

"Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, 'Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.' He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, 'As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.' " Psalms 2:1-6 ESV

The King God has set on His right hand is the King of freedom. Perhaps God laughs because of the misplaced blame. Whole nations blame Him for their bondage and conspire to have Him removed from their schools and gatherings. They want to take knowledge away from their people thinking it will cure them from guilt and shame.

Empires and cultures have tried to do just this thing. They have come and gone but God remains forever.

God says to His Son...

" 'Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.' Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him." Psalms 2:8-12 ESV

"The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward." Psalms 19:9-11 KJV

Grace is a kiss. Be afraid not to live in it. Why... because of consequences? The consequences are not the guilt and shame the world projects. The clean awe of God is the beginning of wisdom. This love casts out all imitations. This fire will not burn us. It will only consume our bondage.

Once you kiss the Son He makes you free... really free. You become free of the guilt people impose on you. Free of the shame that makes you want to hide. Free of a life of avoidance.

That is what fear with torment does it makes people hide and do whatever is required to avoid pain.

"If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." 1 John 1:6-7 ESV

People have turned this verse into some works program but read it. Who hides from the light? What child skulks in the shadows and takes a long way home. A child who is avoiding someone they are afraid of.

If we face God and kiss His Son then we will soon be convinced that fear of anything is needless and obsolete. What guilt? What shame? They do not exist when standing before God... only love, acceptance and memories of God's faithfulness.

The Place No One Wants To Go

Golgotha 'The Place of the Skull' is the haunted place. In human nature places become personifications of men's fears. It is place of aversion to the natural man. A place that signifies death.

As a child maybe you had a 'Boo Radley' type of house nearby... from To kill a Mockingbird. I did. A place that children tell stories about and those stories get passed from the older children to the younger and change over the years to form a local horror mythology. It is very common and most societies large and small have something like this going on.

Golgotha is a picture of this place in the scriptures. In Mark 5 verses 1 through 5 another place like this is described in the country of the Gadarenes across the Sea. Jesus and the disciples met a possessed man there who was cutting himself with stones and crying out in the tombs. Jesus strolled into that place and made short work of the situation. Demons did not have power over Him nor did fear.

Jesus also willfully went to Golgotha, a place of torment, of horror, of shame and judgment. He went right into the heart of the fears of all mankind on purpose. He was brought there but He also chose to go. He was the most liberated man on Earth and these are the places He chose to go.

It is healthy for any person to face fear. It demystifies it and removes it's power in that area. It is an exercise of the will that shows immediate benefits because of the release that comes afterwards. People turn it into a lifestyle actually and because of that they realize personally that man is capable of much more than it seems. It is one thing to know that on paper... it is another to know it experientially. Then there are others that hide in the shadows and are mastered by what lies just below the surface into lives of safety.

Oh, We could talk about demons here but I'm not going to. They are real but fear is fear no matter if it is true danger or imagined. Fear clouds the mind, energizes the emotions and makes options that would normally be dismissed out of hand seem plausible. A person who faces fear and lives to tell about it now has something real to say. Jesus faced fear and has demystified it by conquering it. Fear, shame, guilt, death, danger and demons are all notches on Christ's belt. Jesus spoke to His Father right in the heart of that place. Golgotha became the place of God's manifested victory.

That victory is ours now. It is a victory given to everyone who believes in Christ. Timid or brave, quiet or loud, reserved or bold... it is on your account if you are hidden in the Son of God and yours to walk in when you walk with the Son of God. It is good to exercise our will in a cross-ward direction. When free in the Spirit we have liberty to do it. It's not like we won't have "What have I gotten myself into?" moments. But, so what! We can stroll through those also.

Are you afraid of something? Maybe it is something that has been reinforced by past pain so it really causes you to wince. Christ has passed through to the other side of it already and he has shrugged off any demon associated with it. Now He passes His hand through that thing and offers it to you saying, "Take my hand and follow me. I have the keys to death and Hell." When we take His hand and go with Him, listening to His words then liberty is our companion and joy is what we end up with.

There are no haunted houses in Christ's kingdom.

"And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death." Rev 12:10-11