Tag: shame

I almost missed the joy of the moment!

November 17, 2013 / lenbanks

We are in! Our church held it’s first service in our new building last night. It has been a long journey and there is no other way to explain it other than giving God all the credit to make a way for us. It is not finished as floors and a whole lot of other things still need to be done to get our final inspections approved. But it is safe and it is ours and God is being worshipped in it. I have seen people step up and serve in such incredible ways and sadly I have seen others who I would have expected to, not. Of course they have their reasons and so this has revealed to me once again the part of me that I don’t like.

I found that I slip towards discouragement and judgement and anger far too easily. I am not trying to beat myself up or bring a cloud over this wonderful watershed moment in the life of our church. But I strive to be more like Jesus and can’t just pass over and excuse my own behaviors. Yesterday as we were digging in to get it ready, still doing major electrical installs along with serious clean up, I was “stressed out” which is just code for angry and grumpy and fearful it wouldn’t get done. Of course it did because people stepped up and some of us stayed until very late, even after our first service. But while the service was happening and worship was playing I found myself weeping both out of joy and repentance/shame at the same time. It was so wonderful to finally have praises to God going up from our congregation and at the same time I was so sad I let the pressure of the day almost steal the joy of that moment.

It is so easy to miss silver linings by focusing on the cloud. And in reality it is less of a cloud with silver lining and more of a gloriously sunny day with just a small rain cloud on the horizon. But I/we can get focused on the wrong things. I am glad I was able to step back and see it, but it came much later than I wished it had.

Thank you God for what you have done and how you have done it through incredible people who I have such a deep appreciation and respect for. Thank you for working in me to reveal areas of needed growth and to help me step back and not miss your hand at work. You are such a great God.

No Room for Guilt and Shame When Growing Deeper

September 24, 2013 / lenbanks

This weekend I found myself having a conversation with a wonderful lady who was “filled up” with the love of God. She had shared though how during the week she struggled with yielding over trust to God in a situation and that it surprised her because she thought she had settled that issue.

I then found myself sharing something that I had actually never articulated before and I pass it on to you. I too have been filled with shame and guilt and discouragement thinking that I too have settled issues only to be returning to them again and again. I have come to see this differently. Of course there are times when we actually return to the same issue as we don’t always really give it up and grow through it. But more often we sell ourselves and the growth that God is actually accomplishing in us short. Becoming like Jesus is a life long process and just like we can’t see a tree grow moment by moment, we do see it year over year. We need to get a higher view of our journey and not judge ourselves in the moment.

First off guilt and shame are NEVER God’s desire for us. So whether we are dealing with the same issue over and over or not, we need to find ways to react that lead us toward God. He came to offer grace and freedom from guilt and shame. Godly sorrow and the Holy Spirit’s conviction are more appropriate. They lead us forward to change and growth.

But in addition to that, I suggest that what we sometimes interpret as discouragement from facing the same issues over and over may in fact not be the same thing at all, but a deeper level. Here I am not talking about sin specifically, but the areas of yielding trust and faith to God’s control in our lives. Every step of the way on our journeys is going to be met with opportunities to trust Him. And they are not like going back to the fist step on our path. I too wish that I was perfect in trust. But I am not, and neither are any of us. But that doesn’t mean that we are not maturing and growing. And in that process we are digging into deeper layers of issues in our lives that need to be handed over to God.

Instead of interpreting your latest opportunity to trust God as a failure of having yielded yourself fully to God last time, see it as growing deeper. At the last opportunity you, to the best of your ability and passion and awareness may have fully offered yourself over to Him. But as He is working in you for His good will, He may be taking you to a deeper or different aspect of something familiar.

Keep leaning in to God’s heart and growth for you. Don’t let your own guilt or shame derail what God is doing in you. Instead, and again, let the godly sorrow and Holy Spirit’s conviction propel you to a deeper walk with Him as you become more like Him.

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained. Philippians 3:12-16 ESV

(Listen to Jeremy Riddle’s Sweetly Broken. “At the cross you beckon me. Draw me gently to my knees.”)

Beyond the Sun

September 4, 2013 / lenbanks

Waves of sadness and joy course over me as I have an “aha” moment. Once again, God has shown me something. Not anything new to mankind, but a deeper awareness of what he has been saying all along.

I have have been hungering more for God and leaning in to that posture more and more lately. I am excited to see what God is doing in me and around me and I want more of that.

But how that takes shape is continually surprising. Recently I found myself repeating an experience that I have had in the past. Something I knew then was not the best for me but it didn’t hold the same weight of grief when done in the past. But this time, it truly grieved me after the fact.

Jumping ahead, this morning I am reading Matt Chandler’s, The Explicit Gospel, and he writes this, “In the end, there is nothing under the sun that brings lasting fulfillment. You have to look beyond the sun.” This of course is a reference to Ecclesiastes and the preacher declaring all is meaningless, there is nothing new under the sun. While reading this, the song in my headphones became clear to me. “set a fire down in my soul that I can’t contain, that I can’t control. I want more of you God, I want more of you! (Set a Fire, Will Regan & the United Pursuit)

Back to my grief of sin. I am not trying to justify or excuse it in any way, but there was a positive side to this. I discovered that as I fill my life’s ambition with more of Christ, the impact of anything less than him, is greater. I was broken because I had disappointed Him. That is a right response. But rather than get stuck in the shame, I now see instead the joy. I have tasted the Lord, and He is good! I went back to try something else, but it just didn’t satisfy like it used to! In fact it tasted outright bad. Am I glad I tried it again? No. But am I glad that I had this awareness, YES!

What is under the sun is meaningless and is old, stale and unsatisfying. It may not be “sin”. It may just be normal pursuits. But in comparison to the fire that God set’s within our hearts, it just won’t do.