Over and over, laced through conversations with missionaries, French pastors, and even local shopkeepers, we heard a recurring theme: Shame is the tactic most used in raising children in France. Shame produces adults who, though outwardly successful, are inwardly wasting away. They are afraid to take risks and carry a heavy burden of insecurity and discontent. Oh how I long to see the Gospel of Redemption unleashed in France!Today in my Bible Study I read Colossians 2:13-15, which says:
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
The French people are burdened by their codes, both written and unwritten, and shamed when they do not live up to the expectations of others. But Jesus cancels the code! What a concept to be grasped. I am so grateful to serve a God who chose forgiveness over condemnation. I pray that the Holy Spirit will blow through France afresh with this blessed message!
What a wonderful testimony the lives of Graham and Chandler will have in France - the confidence and the self assurance that they are not under shame but under the love and guidance of their parents and the God of the Universe....wow!
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