... if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For people believe with their hearts and so are justified, and they confess with their lips and so are saved. The scripture says, "No one who believes in him will be put to shame."

Romans 10:9-11

Shame ... there's a word many gay, lesbian, bi and transgendered people are intimately familiar with. We've been taught by parents, society and especially the church, to be ashamed of who we are. We've learned the lesson well. Often we express that shame by abusing ourselves with drugs, alcohol and promiscuous sex, and we fall further into the shame.

Jesus raises us out of our shame, just as he was raised from the tomb. Jesus' ministry was one of abolishing shame. There was no shame in being a tax collector, or a prostitute, or any other outcast that society, and the church, looked down upon. Jesus teaches us that we are God's children, and God has no favorites.

There is no shame in being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered. You are God's children, created in God's image. Easter is a time of transformation when the old falls away. Shed your shame, confess your belief in the risen Christ and be saved, for "No one who believes in him will be put to shame."

Blessings,
Candace