Honor versus shame

I started this blog with the intention of writing about my discoveries with God, or share some of what he is sharing with me. Right now God is showing me more about honor, how He is honoring us. Many times we live in an unhealthy fear of God because we are filled with shame, the opposite of honor, and this makes us avoid God and keep Him somewhat at a distance. This is what religion does to us - fills us with shame, because we don't believe we measure up to the requirements. Or else religion might fill us with pride if we think that we actually do things right. This pride usually goes alongside with judging others that - in our opinion - don't measure up. Like the older son in the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15, we don't come close to the Father because we don't know how good He is and we also judge our younger brother that comes back home and receives mercy. But this is what God does: He honors us even when we totally have screwed up and our lives are a mess, because he is not interested in our behavior first of all, he is interested in us. He honors us - not because of what we have done or haven't done, but based on Christ's redemptive work on the cross. And when we receive undeserved honor it makes us want to be better people. Shame does the opposite. Just like Valjean in Les Miserables when he received unexpected kindness from the Bishop and that completely transformed his life, God believes in us and tells us we belong to him.