He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present. (Luke 22:6)
Faith had just finished her first year of Bible college and gone home for the summer. She soon discovered that being a part of a community of other young Christians did not make her feel less alone or give her some supernaturally effortless holiness. Her best friend had just started dating the boy she liked, and that old familiar loneliness came knocking at the door. It happened so fast—she downloaded a dating app and met a guy. Then she met another guy. And another. In the span of three days, she had been with three guys.
Broken and confused, Faith knew what she had done. Bible college students did not live like this, did they? If she went back, how would she bear the shame? If word got out, people would look at her differently.
Like Judas, Faith had already started off on the road to failure and she found herself at a crossroads. The hardest choice for her to make was the choice that Judas did not make—the choice to quit halfway on the road to failure. She chose to seek out and to live in redemption. As humbling as it was, she sought out mentors and friends who helped her find grace and healing after failure. Like Faith, we can find freedom from the cycle of shame and sin and return to doing what is right.
Seek out redemption in an area where you feel trapped in shame.
Grace Aukerman is a third-year Kingswood University student from Albania who loves coffee and her dog.
© 2022 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
