Nothing to Hide - My Story
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EXPOSED
“It took so much courage for you to expose yourself like that!” commented a dear woman after I spoke at an event. Hmmmm… It never occurred to me that I was “exposing myself”. I was just telling my story. I shared my personal history, which included the sexual abuse I experienced as a child. I didn’t go into detail. I mentioned it because it shaped who I was and magnified my soul’s ache for someone to rescue me.
I went on to tell about the women in God’s family. Women like Rahab, Tamar, Ruth, Bathsheba, Sarah and Leah, whose messy lives resonate with my own. All of these women have their scars. Yet, despite their mistakes, sins, and sometimes sketchy backgrounds, they were hand-picked by God to be included in the family line of Jesus Christ. Their stories have been preserved in the word of God for all the world to read. I suppose you could say they, too, are “exposed”.
SECRETS
I grew up in a culture of secrecy. We didn’t talk about “those kinds of things” at home, or anywhere. So imagine my shock, when I read the story of Amnon raping his half-sister Tamar in the book of 2 Samuel. As I studied the Bible, I encountered person after person whose stories were laced with “dirty laundry”. Parents showing favoritism, kings multiplying wives, brothers betraying one another, prostitutes crashing dinner parties, sibling rivalry that turned deadly, drunkenness and abuse; secrets most of us would prefer not to share if that were OUR family.
But that IS our family. If we are part of the family of God, we need look no further than the lineage of Jesus, and the motley crew of followers He gathered to Himself when He walked the earth to be reminded that God did not choose us based on our credentials.
CHOSEN
“Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him. It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.’” 1 Cor 1:26-31 (NIV)
The more I got to know the family line of Jesus and the people He chose for companions, the less embarrassed I felt about the skeletons in my own closet. Rather than avoid all the disgraceful details of their lives, Jesus spoke openly to people about their brokenness and offered Himself for their healing.
God began to loosen the grip shame held on me as I grew in my kinship with these people. But when I considered the cross of Jesus and what His death accomplished, the chains of shame fell completely powerless at last.
