dishonorable discharge...

Dishonorable discharge. I really haven’t ever heard this word accept when speaking of the military. But when I came across the word dishonor in the Bible this morning, I wondered what it actually meant. In the context of the verse I believe it meant “disgrace”, but there was another definition that surprised and struck me. It was that of being sexually assaulted, being “dishonored”.
I cannot think of a more appropriate word…dishonor. She was raped…she was seduced into child pornography…she was touched by a family member…in every case…she was DISHONORED. The sacred, the innocence, was treated with violence…and now she feels dirty.

I constantly stand in amazement of how the dirty sin of the perpetrator somehow transfers over to the victim. The transaction is sickly strange. The perpetrator makes a withdrawal out of the victim’s innocence and confidence bank… and then deposits a double portion of shame, fear, guilt, and doubt to replace the balance.
Victims often feel as if their only option is to draw from their own bank account, and given that their bank account was hijacked, they draw from feelings of dishonor. But what if there was another bank account…one that has been set aside for them since the beginning of time. An account full of unconditional love, forgiveness, restoration, freedom, and grace. An account that has no withdrawal fees, and there is no way it can ever be overdrafted.

Isaiah 61:7 says “Instead of their shame my people will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace they will rejoice in their inheritance; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs.”
Christ has an inheritance for you beyond all comprehension. And the best news it has a double portion of my favorite thing, EVERLASTING JOY!
Dishonor…I think we might as well give it a “dishonorable discharge”, because there is no reason to continue to honor a bank account of lies. Instead, let’s honor the truth – and dive into the bank account of Jesus’ crazy love!