It might seem impossible to believe that what was once your defeat and shame will end up being your victory and glory. It hardens into reality, however, because you are loved by the God of the impossible. You have a God of selfless love who passionately hates evil and is so powerful that he overcomes evil with good. Infinite goodness is the perfect antidote for evil. It is as if the Lord keeps pouring his goodness upon the mountain of anti-God things that were inflicted upon you. He keeps it up, year after year, until you can eventually look back on what was unadulterated evil and see so much good flowing from it that you are flooded with awe and gratitude.

In his mind-boggling goodness, the Almighty uses his unlimited power to turn disasters into blessings, defeats into victories and shame into glory. Look at Jesus, who blazed this trail for you to follow. See him stripped naked, exposed to the world, as he hangs helpless on the cross. See him – if you can stomach it – mocked and scorned, humiliated and bloodied, being tortured to death as the nation’s esteemed religious leaders get their hateful way with him. He seems the embodiment of shame and defeat; growing weaker and uglier by the minute, as horrific pain sears through his tormented, broken body. What looked like the most humiliating disaster, however, turned out to be the greatest victory over evil the universe has ever seen. Forever and ever he will be worshipped by adoring millions; honoring him far above anyone else because he chose what seemed unspeakable shame.

And that’s the path Christ blazed for you. Like him, and through him, your shame, pain and blame will be transformed into your glory; like a disgusting grub becoming a butterfly of breathtaking beauty. (Incidentally, beautiful butterflies exist only because they were once grubs.)

You can see good coming from the horrors in Jesus’ life but you might think there are too many differences between Jesus’ suffering and your bad times for there to be any connection. Look at this, however:

Romans 8:28-29 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (Emphasis mine.)

Those who, through faith in the power of Jesus’ sacrifice, are in spiritual union with the triumphant Lord, not only share his destiny but are becoming increasingly like him.

Right now, your life may seem a hopeless mess of shattered pieces, but your devoted Lord treasures every fragment, even those life experiences you have suffered that seem worse than useless. Discarding nothing, he will lovingly treat each incident in your life as a critical piece of a jigsaw that only a supernatural genius could solve. He will reassemble every meaningless disaster, shameful failure and hideous sin, until together they form priceless beauty that no one would ever guess could emerge from such evil and chaos.

Yes, things would have been better still had we not sinned, but when we come to Christ for cleansing, he not only removes our shame and makes us sparkle with his purity, he works all things – including our sin – together for good (Romans 8:28).

Even our pre-Christian days will end up flooded with divine glory. Consider, for example, the apostle Paul’s atrocious sin. If anyone had reason for shame, it was this man. He arrogantly and brutally tormented Christians in the hope of destroying their faith and making them blaspheme Jesus and permanently renounce their Lord and Savior, thus destroying them eternally. With Christianity in its vulnerable infancy, Paul, like perhaps no one else in all of history, had the opportunity to totally wipe from the planet every memory of Christianity. And he was intent on doing so. God intervened, of course, but had Paul’s determined plans succeeded and Christianity were eradicated before any of the New Testament were written, all of us today would be without the Gospel, destined for hell. Given the eternal implications, this makes serial murder seem like a parking offense. How could even the God of the impossible wring any good out of that evil?

There is no thought in the Bible of covering up the story of Paul’s atrocious, anti-Christ behavior, however. Amazingly, the story is told in detail not once, but three times in the book of Acts (Acts 8:1-9:20; Acts 22:3-16; Acts 26:9-20). That’s how significant Paul’s sinful background is to God. That’s how much the Holy One longs to use it for his glory. And in two of those passages, it was Paul himself recounting the story when a powerful testimony was needed. It was presumably a regular feature of Paul’s evangelism. In addition to being critical in turning countless skeptics of the power and authenticity of the Gospel into committed believers, Paul’s dramatic transformation from a violent, hate-filled opponent of Christianity has inspired millions.

Throughout the Christianity’s history, similar transformations of evil acts have been repeated too often for anyone but God to count. People’s former shame has been transformed into such powerful evangelistic tools and sources of inspiration as to tempt Christians with more mundane backgrounds to be envious. “I was a criminal,” “I was a Satanist,” “I was a prostitute,” I was a heroin addict,” declare Christians, who almost reach celebrity status because of pasts that should have been shameful. Past atrocities are no longer guilty secrets that shame them into silence but, through Christ, what should have been stumbling blocks have been turned not just into stepping stones but into launching pads to spiritual achievement as they use their past to win souls and inspire fellow believers.

What about sins after conversion? Though you would be excused for expecting the opposite result, throughout history literally millions of Christians have drawn comfort and inspiration from Peter denying his Lord three times. “If there’s hope for Peter, there’s hope for me,” they gladly conclude. The same is true of King David’s shocking adultery and murderous cover-up. Moreover, who alone out of David's many sons did God choose as heir to David's throne and ancestor of the Messiah? Bathsheba's son, Solomon. This man should never have even been born. His mother should still have been married to the man David murdered. And yet God so forgave that he chose the product of David's greatest moral fall to be a key figure in Jewish and redemptive history and the one he endowed with astounding wisdom.

As I have written elsewhere:

From Crushing Defeat to Eternal Fame

We find him lurking in the shadows of Scripture. He was a breath of fresh air in a whirlwind. John Mark was bad news. In the human race he led the field from go to woe. He has often been identified with Christianity’s first streaker – the man who blurred through Gethsemane’s garden with the raw grace of a plucked chicken, leaving behind his clothes and his Savior (Mark 14:51-52). More humiliations were to follow.

His unflattering nickname, stub-fingered, suggests he was physically impaired. To this he added a handicap of his own making: he was branded a deserter – a second time.

When the pressure mounts, the last thing you need is for a trusted companion to abandon you. That’s what Mark did to Paul and Barnabas.

His desertion seems to have deeply hurt Paul. The apostle was adamant that hanging out with this dodo was a no-no. Barnabas, who always stood up for the under-dog , defended his cousin Mark. The result was a rift between old friends; the shattering of a great missionary team (Acts 15:37-39). We never hear of Barnabas again.

One look at ‘stump-finger’s’ yellow face and you knew this jinx had had mistake and eggs for breakfast again. Whenever this egg-head cracked, everyone got egg on their face. Just what the church needs! He must have felt as blue as a browned off white man seeing red because he’s accused of being yellow.

Mark could have drowned in self-pity. He could have resented Paul. He could have turned back to Judaism. Instead, he redoubled his efforts, eventually being recognized even by Paul as having an outstanding ministry (2 Timothy 4:11; Colossians 4:10; Philemon 24). Peter also spoke affectionately of him (1 Peter 5:13). As writer of possibly the earliest gospel and a primary source of Matthew and Luke, Mark’s contribution even to today’s church is beyond measure. This planet is a better place today because nineteen centuries ago a ‘no-hoper’ called stub-fingered decided to tough it out.

Knowing our weaknesses, our loving Father has preserved many such stories for us to gain strength.

‘Then will I teach transgressors your ways,’ crooned David. When? After a calamitous moral fall (Psalm 51: title, 3-5, 12-13).

‘Simon ... feed my sheep’ (John 21:17). When? After denying his Savior.

‘He slew at his death more than he slew in his life’ (Judges 16:30, paraphrase). When? After Samson’s greatest humiliation.

Samson and David each knew the horror of spiritual failure. On the crest of their vocation, they plunged to abominable depths. Their lapses were inexcusable. Their ministries were desecrated. Yet they refused to dwell in defeat. They were failures for a moment, but they were overcomers forever. Grasping God’s hand of forgiveness, they clambered to new heights for the exaltation of the One who washed them clean.

Oppression crushed Simon the rock into sand. On the brink of ministry, after years of grooming, he blew it. He lied. He invoked a curse on himself. He disowned his Lord (Matthew 26:74). Yet though it rocked him, this one-time rock didn’t peter. Empowered by his Savior, he again turned to stone.

Though the righteous – that’s you and me in Christ Jesus – fall seven times, they rise again. That’s a promise (Proverbs 24:16, see also Psalm 37:23-24).

It was just a hair-cut
For the plaything of Delilah;
And just a prayer-cut
For Peter the denier.
Strong they dozed
But weak arose,
And knew it not.

Men destroyed by fatal cuts;
Left to wallow in their ruts;
Left with blame
And haunting shame,
In sin to rot.

A seed so small and barely sown
Meant to die, but how it’s grown!
Things so small
Grow so tall,
But marvel not.

If sin can grow,
So can prayer;
If prayers will flow,
So will hair.
With faith restored
Hope will soar,
And blunders blot.

His repentance real,
The victim of Delilah,
Had victories still.
And the spineless Christ-denier
Shed his shame
And became
The church’s rock.

Not to be sold. © Copyright 2008, 2014 Grantley Morris. May be freely copied in whole or in part provided: it is not altered; this entire paragraph is included and readers are not charged. Many more compassionate, inspiring, sometimes hilarious writings available free online at www.net-burst.com  Freely you have received, freely give.
For use outside these limits, consult the author.