part 7 of “Don’t Give The Enemy A Seat At Your Table”
We all have experienced grace whether we know it or not. We have experienced grace by being able to turn in an assignment past the due date. We have experienced grace by being able to pay that bill a few days later because of a built-in grace period. We have experienced grace by the goodwill of someone whom we have done something to and don’t deserve it. We have experienced grace by someone letting us merge into traffic. We have also experienced grace we don’t even realize that we have received. But here is the big thing… grace is life-changing (especially when we don’t deserve it) and the enemy doesn’t want us to know about it. Let’s dive in and discuss this more.
The reason why we miss grace sometimes is because the enemy has us focused on two other words - guilt and shame. This is what the enemy did to Adam and Eve. He tricked them into eating the fruit from the tree and then turned it into guilt and shame. Adam and Eve hid from God because they were ashamed. The enemy was running them on the hamster wheel and telling them how awful what they did was and how ashamed they should be. But that’s not the way it should be. Let’s look at the words guilt and shame.
The words guilt and shame are often used together. However, these words are different. Guilt is being accountable for something that you have done wrong and how you have fallen short of God’s standard (Romans 3:23). We have all done it. Every one of us. We have done something or said something wrong. We have hurt another person. We have hurt God. We let the enemy sit right down at the table. Just as Adam and Eve did in the Garden when they ate the fruit from the tree. They were guilty. They had fallen short of God’s standard (Romans 3:23). The enemy had sat right down next to them at their table with God.
Shame, on the other hand, is the feeling that our mistakes and shortcomings define us. This is where the enemy becomes dangerous because he’s sitting at our table. He takes what we had done and twists it all around. He starts to make it define us. He likes us to be on the hamster wheel replaying over and over again what we did wrong until whatever it is has defined us. All of a sudden, as we talked about in last week’s post, we start to feel like we are what we did or said, that we are broken beyond fixing, that we are helpless and hopeless and that we should just give up trying to be anything better.
When we feel shame, we hide. Adam and Eve felt shame and hid from God (Genesis 3:10). The enemy likes us to hide from God. In fact, he helps us do it. When we are hiding, he can do his best shame work. He gets us lost in the valley so that he can call the shots. He knows that we are helpless away from the table with God. The enemy gets us away from the table and out into the bushes where he can remind us of what we had done so that it begins to define us. The enemy does not want us to know about God’s grace.
This is why the enemy doesn’t want you to know about grace, because grace has the knock-out punch to destroy the power of sin. The knock-out punch to destroy shame. The knock-out punch that comforts us in our guilt. Grace moves us forward with the Good Shepherd. Grace takes us off of the hamster wheel and changes what is playing in our heads. The grace found at the table with the Good Shepherd redefines us, restores us, and makes us radiant.
Grace cancels guilt and shame. Grace redefines us from failure to family. Grace tells us that we are a part of God’s family. We are His sheep (Psalm 100:3) and He is our shepherd (Psalm 23:1). The grace provided at the table with the Good Shepherd removes our old identity and gives us a new one. We are the children of God (1 John 3:1). This is our identity. We have a Shepherd that will never leave us (Romans 8:38 + Hebrews 13:5). The enemy wants to use our scars against us, the Good Shepherd wants to use His scars FOR us.
Just for an example, remember Peter. Peter who was one of Jesus’ close followers. Peter who denied Jesus at a time when Jesus needed him the most (Luke 22:34,61-62). Peter who then was redefined by Jesus on the beach when Jesus turned over His ministry to him (John 21). Peter was redefined by Jesus, but I am equally sure that the enemy tried his best to shame Peter and define him by what he did. But Peter didn’t let the enemy get a seat at his table. He listened to the words of the Good Shepherd and let His scars define him. But even though we are redefined, it can be hard for us to imagine these broken pieces ever being restored. But once again, that’s what the enemy wants you to think. The grace of the Good Shepherd does restore us.
When we look back at Peter’s story, Jesus restores him on the beach that morning. After Jesus and the disciples had breakfast, Jesus and Peter went off to have a conversation. In that conversation, Jesus asks Peter to feed and take care of His sheep. Jesus didn’t stand there in the sand and rip Peter a new one and make him feel ashamed for what he had done. Jesus didn’t scold or wave His finger. Those are actions of the enemy. Instead, Jesus wanted Peter to carry on His ministry work. Jesus wanted Peter to care for His sheep. The Good Shepherd wanted Peter to be in charge. The Good Shepherd restored Peter at that moment (John 21). This is what the same grace does for us. Grace restores us. This exchange with Jesus also made Peter radiant.
When I picture this conversation between Jesus and Peter, I picture eye contact. I picture Peter having his eyes locked in on Jesus and hanging on His every word (Matthew 4:4). In this experience with the Good Shepherd, Peter was made radiant. This is the opposite image of shame. Shame puts us down and a cloud over us. But the radiant glow that being at the table with the Good Shepherd provides lights us up.
“Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.” - Psalms 34:5 NIV
We need to knock the enemy out of the seat he has taken at our table. We need to stay at the table with the Good Shepherd. We need to remain focused on the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd tells us who we are! The Good Shepherd redefines us. The Good Shepherd restores us. The Good Shepherd makes us radiant. The Good Shepherd gives us grace. Grace is what we don’t deserve. But grace is what the Good Shepherd provides us with.
“But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) - Ephesians 2:4-5 NLT
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**This series is based on the book Don’t Give The Enemy A Seat At Your Table” by Louie Giglio. The thoughts and ideas in this post come from the book, but are put into my own words and are not directly quoted. All direct quotes from the book will be noted as such and identified. You can pick up a copy of the book wherever you buy your books.
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