There is a war for the love of God. This all-out war makes perfect sense since loving God is the first and most important commandment. This vital ingredient, love, is how the world will know we are Christians. The Daily Nuggets of Grace is a tool to help Christians remove barriers like guilt, shame, fear, and pride while learning to abide to recover their first love for Christ. Freedom In Christ Ministries
Day 1
Scriptures: Genesis 3:6-13, 1 Samuel 16:7, John 3:16, Ephesians 1:4-5, Romans 5:8
What Causes You Shame?
Why are you reading this? What’s happening inside your heart that leads to action? What motivates you?
God wants love to motivate us.
God lavishly poured His grace on us. In love, He gave His only Son for us, adopted us into His family, and gave His life for us. God also wants us to be motivated by love.
God cares what we do, but He also cares why we do things. As 1 Samuel 16:7 says, people look at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. God wants us to be motivated by love for Him, not by false motivators.
This week, we’ll see how to be free from shame, a typical false motivator that quietly directs many people’s lives.
In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve ate the fruit God had told them not to eat. The next verse says, “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so, they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.”
Shame is present throughout the verse, though it’s never mentioned. What did they feel when they saw their nakedness? Shame. Why did they try to cover up? Shame.
Shame still makes us cover up, hide, or withdraw. It separates us from people because we pull back. Yet, our attempts to cover up are as futile as Adam and Eve’s. When they heard God coming toward them, they lost all confidence in their fig-leaf clothing and ran to hide.
How often have we also hidden, perhaps keeping silent when we know we should speak up? We avoid a particular person or situation. We work hard to keep people at a distance. All this is motivated by shame.
God offered a better solution to Adam’s nakedness, providing garments of skin for them to wear. God also gives us a better solution than covering up and allowing shame to control us. He offers us freedom!
However, before embracing this freedom from shame, we must first identify what causes us to feel shame.
Pause for a moment. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand what causes you shame. Don’t try to sidestep or justify it. Acknowledge what brings you shame. Be honest about your source of shame.
Pray
Holy Spirit, help me identify the sources of shame in my life. I want to turn away from shame this week so I can be motivated entirely by love for You.
Reflect and Respond
Listen to what the Holy Spirit brings to your mind. Write down your sources of shame. Open yourself to God’s word this week as we learn to overcome shame.
Day 2
Scripture: 1 Samuel 15:1-35
How Is Shame Running Your Life?
“Dad, who’s flying the plane?” my son asked as we cruised in a single-engine plane 4,000 feet above the ground.
“The pilot,” I laughed.
“No, he’s not!” my son declared. “The pilot is writing in a notebook.”
My son was right. At that moment, the pilot was not flying the plane; it was on autopilot. Shame is the “autopilot” for many of us. We think we are running our lives, making decisions, and navigating through the day, but we are being controlled by something else – shame.
Shame changes our mood by influencing our thoughts about ourselves. Shame prompts us to keep emotional distance from people, limiting relationships. Shame hinders us from working well with others because we’re reluctant to share our ideas. Shame controls people and makes us miss God’s grace.
God had chosen King Saul to lead Israel, but in 1 Samuel 15, Saul disobeyed God’s command. One reason was rebellion; another was arrogance, a cousin of shame. Because of Saul’s disobedience, God rejected him as king over Israel.
Near the end of the chapter, Saul asks the prophet Samuel to worship the Lord with him. Initially, Samuel refuses, citing God’s rejection of Saul. In verse 30, Saul replies, “I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD your God.”
Saul admitted he’d sinned but didn’t show any remorse. His motive was avoiding shame. “Honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel.” If Samuel didn’t worship with him, then Saul would feel shame.
This shows us that shame can pull from two directions. Sometimes, we are controlled by the shame of what has already happened. Other times, shame controls us with the “what if.” I will be ashamed if I don’t do this, achieve that, or succeed there.
Saul’s worship was not motivated by love for God or repentance for disobeying God. He was motivated by his desire to avoid shame.
Take a few minutes to recognize how shame runs your life. This may include shame for things that have already happened and your attempts to avoid shame in the future.
Pray
Holy Spirit, I want to be free from the control of shame. Help me to see how shame controls me. Help me identify shame from the past and ways I seek to avoid shame in the present. Amen
Reflect and Respond
As the Holy Spirit brings things to your mind, write down how shame controls your thinking, moods, actions, or words. Knowing how you are controlled by shame will help you get free from shame in the next few days.
Day 3
Scripture: 1 Peter 2:4-25
Fully Accepted!
Peace in a storm, stability in the face of insults, calm amidst rejection, and confidence when being accused.
This was Jesus, and it can be you as well.
Jesus knew his identity. As the Living Stone, He knew that even though people turned against Him, God still stood with Him. The Father saw Him as precious, and that was all Jesus needed. When He was falsely accused, abandoned by His close friends, disowned by His most vocal supporter, and insulted by His enemies, Jesus was not simply keeping calm on the outside by suppressing His emotions. Jesus had perfect peace inside.
He knew He was chosen by God and precious to Him. He felt no shame even though the people around Him had all turned against Him.
When people insulted Him, He did not retaliate as we do today because of our shame. When people mistreated Him, He did not try to defend Himself, guarding His excellent name. He entrusted Himself to the Father who loved Him.
“You also, like living stones…” That’s how 1 Peter 2: 5 begins. The peace that rises above shame was not only for Jesus; it’s for you! You also were chosen by God. You also are precious to Him. You can also stop trying to defend yourself and put on a good show for others to see. You can stop living under the control of this false motivator called shame.
Instead, you can rest as Jesus did in the hands of Him who judges justly, knowing He fully accepts and deeply loves you. Entrust your reputation to Him. Hand over the source of your shame to your Father in Heaven. He chose you and calls you precious.
Knowing your true identity, that you are truly accepted in Christ, cuts the legs off shame. It no longer has anything to stand on. Its control over you is released because you are no longer so concerned about what others think. You rest, instead, in God’s grace.
Reflect and Respond
How would your shame lose its power if you rested daily in the reality that you are a living stone, chosen by God and precious to Him?
Pray
Heavenly Father, I am tired of shame running my life. Help me to see myself as You see me. Help me to know I am entirely accepted in Christ so I can stop being controlled by shame.
Day 4
Scriptures: Hebrews 12:1-2, Ephesians 2:6
The Way Out of Shame
The problem with shame is that there is no way out. Or so it seems. We try to hide it, but it reappears. We try to forget it, but someone brings it up again. We try to make up for it, but our efforts prove unable to cancel it out. Our regrets, failures, and hurts continue to mock us. If only someone could lift us out of shame.
Someone can. Someone did.
The Source and Perfector of our faith, the Author and the Finisher, the One who began our salvation and the One who brings it to completion – He is the One who lifts us out of our shame.
If only we would do what Hebrews 2 teaches—fix our eyes on Jesus and turn our gaze away from past failures and current inadequacies. Looking unto Him means looking away from the shame that grips us and the shame we hold tightly.
Where we direct our vision is a choice we make.
Fix your eyes on your true identity, your new being in Christ, not the source of shame.
I once stepped into a sinkhole in the middle of a cedar swamp. Instantly, I found myself stuck waist-deep in mud. I instinctively tried to get out, but the more I flailed around, the dirtier I got. There was nothing solid to grab onto. A moment later, I looked up. My dad was there, offering a strong hand to pull me out of the mud.
This is what Jesus did. At the cross, He canceled our shame. He despised and scorned it because His mind was focused on something more significant. His eyes were focused on the joy before Him, not the shame of the cross. He knew the throne at the right hand of God awaited Him.
Ephesians 2:6 says Jesus offers you a seat on that same throne. According to God’s truth, the source of your shame is gone, eliminated at the cross. You are free.
Today Jesus is reaching His hand out to you. He invites you to throw off the shame that hinders you. He provides you with a way out. Will you take it?
Reflect and Respond
If you received forgiveness from Jesus and allowed Him to take away your sin, why have you continued to hold onto shame? What makes you hesitate to release your shame to Jesus as well?
Pray
Holy Spirit, I want to experience all You intend for me. Show me why I hesitate to release my shame to Jesus. (Now, take a few minutes to listen to what the Holy Spirit brings to your mind.) I turn away from these things that make me hold onto my shame so I can walk in the freedom Jesus offers me. Amen.
Day 5
Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 5:21, 2 Corinthians 6:1-2
God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. What a fantastic and utterly unfair trade!
As a kid, I tried to trade baseball cards with my friends. We laid them all out on the floor to see what each other owned, and then we tried to negotiate a deal: “I’ll give you these two for that one.” Ultimately, I never traded any because I was afraid of loss.
That is precisely the opposite of the trade God offers us. We gain everything while He absorbs all the loss. He looked at us in our spiritually dead, personally broken state of being and gently declared, “I’ll take all your sin; you can have My righteousness.”
God’s trade offer is even more fantastic than taking away all our sins. Second Corinthians 5:21 says God made Jesus to be sin for us. At the cross, not only did Jesus take away our sins, but Jesus was said to be our sin. With His death, Jesus eliminated our sins. With its elimination, the grounds for shame are gone.
Shame dwells with a belief that says, “There is something wrong with me. I’m a problem.” But notice what we gain through this unfair exchange that God initiated: in Him, we become the righteousness of God.
Jesus wiped out our shame. Therefore, we stand new, clean, presentable, free, and confident. This is not because of a change in our behavior but because of a fundamental change in our being. A transformation has happened deep within us, at the center of our identity.
Jesus became my sin and shame. I have become the righteousness of God.
Some of us, however, are reluctant to accept this trade. We feel we don’t deserve it. We know we are forgiven and saved by grace, but we continue to hold on to our shame.
Listen to what 2 Corinthians 6:1 urges: don’t receive God’s grace as something that is here one moment, then dissipates like smoke a few minutes later. Don’t say, “My sins are forgiven; I am saved by grace…but my shame remains.”
Now is the time of God’s favor, the day of salvation. Our sins are gone, and we are free from shame.
Reflect and Respond
Identify the things that make you feel shame. Reject those things before God in prayer.
Pray
Lord, today I receive your trade offer. Jesus became my sin and destroyed it on the cross, eliminating my shame. I confess I have held onto shame. (Tell God precisely what brings you shame.)Today, I reject this shame and release it to you. I wholeheartedly embrace the truth that I am now righteousness in Christ. Amen!
Day 6
Scriptures: Isaiah 62:2, Ephesians 1:3-8, Ephesians 1:13
Power to Give a Name
Holding the helpless baby for the first time, looking into his open eyes as they peered up at me, rubbing his tiny fingers with mine, my heart bubbled with love as I rejoiced over reality. This was the baby we were adopting!
And with this joy came a great responsibility. We needed to give this precious child a name!
His name would reflect where he was going, not where he had come from. It would also reflect the blessing we declared over him: that he would walk in God’s truth and that we had asked God for him.
The name would not speak of the past but display the current reality—this was our child! He had a new identity. He was a full member of our family. He was ours to care for, provide for, protect, and love. We embraced every aspect of that reality.
In nothing but love, God predestined us to be adopted as His children through Jesus Christ. He did this according to His pleasure and will. The cost to us? Nothing. It’s entirely by grace! The cost to Him? The life of His only begotten Son. Without regard to what it would cost, he lavished the riches of His grace on us. He included us in Christ when we believed in Him.
He adopted us as full members of His family. As His children, we are loved fully and freely, without deserving it.
With that adoption, God gained the right to give you a new name—a name that reflects your future, not your past. A name that reflects His current commitment to you, not others’ rejection of you. A name that declares your right standing before Him, not the sins you committed. A name that reflects reality—you are God’s child.
Isaiah 62 says you will be called by a new name, which God will bestow on you. What name does He give you?
Beautiful
Chosen
Precious
Accepted
Planned
Secure
Loved
Presentable
Forgiven
Adopted
Holy
Complete
Heir
Free from Condemnation
Known
Unashamed
Gifted
Enriched
Provided For
Treasured
Pure
Established
God’s Work of Art
Friend
Christ’s Precious Bride
God has the right to give us a new name because of His complete commitment to us when He adopted us as His children! Embrace the new name that affirms your new identity.
Reflect and Respond
Reread the list of names. Which name touches your heart?
Pray
Loving Father, thank you for choosing me and adopting me as your child. Thank you for the commitment you made to me. Today I receive this new name, the name You declare over me. In Jesus’ name, I belong. Amen.
Day 7
Scriptures: Ephesians 1:3-8, Romans 8:15-17
Embrace Your New Identity
“You’re not my dad,” my son yelled as he melted down into anger.
Where did these words come from? He’d called me “dad” a thousand times, but now, in an emotional rage, he was contradicting himself.
Yesterday, we saw the beautiful truth that God adopted us as His children. He lavished His grace upon us at great cost to Himself. Jesus brought us into His family. He gave us a new name that reflects reality: we are secure in our relationship with Him because of His grace.
When we adopted our son, we gave him our surname. We now share a name to show that he is fully part of the family. However, in a moment of confusion, he shouted something untrue.
Have you accepted your new identity as God’s child? Have you embraced the new name He has given you? Do you smile daily at your new identity in Christ?
Or are you still struggling with moments of confusion? Do you fight against these new names, saying, “That might be true of another person, but it can’t apply to me. Don’t you know what I have done?”
Are you still listening to the curses, judgments, and scorn others have spoken against you? Are you still trying to make a name for yourself? Are you still calling yourself by the names other people call you?
Or are you standing firm in the blessing, acceptance, and love God declared over you?
Embrace the name God has given you. Walk through your day freely and confidently, embracing the truth. You are a child of the King of kings.
This reality is truly remarkable, which makes it challenging to embrace. However, don’t let this push you to more shame. Allow the Holy Spirit to lead you daily in this truth. Romans 8 says, “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”
What a beautiful, gentle truth from Father God. His Spirit is willing to speak to your spirit. Invite the Holy Spirit to declare this truth in your heart today.
I am a child of God.
Reflect and Respond
Consider what difference it makes that the Holy Spirit declares with your spirit that you are God’s child.
Pray
Holy Spirit, I invite you to declare with my spirit that I am a child of God. (Take a few minutes to listen as the Holy Spirit speaks to your heart.)