Unashamed

by Lecrae

My name is Lecrae. I’m not who people assume I am. I don’t fit neatly into people’s boxes or conform to people’s labels. I have a troubled past and have made more than my share of mistakes. A few years ago, I met God and started making music. Neither of these has made life simple. I still make my share of mistakes. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I’m like you. I’m a lifelong wanderer trying to love God and be who I was created to be. This is my story. And maybe it’s yours too.

When I became an annoyance—like most kids do from time to time—only a handful of people ever explained what I was doing wrong or how I could improve. When I misbehaved, no one stopped to show me a better path. When I failed, no one consoled me or told me that this was a natural part of life. Denigrating and demeaning words abounded.

I’ve had to learn that my natural responses aren’t normal, that the only way to live a future that’s better than my past is to cling to God in the present.

The amazing thing about Big Momma’s ministry is that she didn’t wait for a mission team to assemble or apply to a sending organization. She just went where she knew there were needs and found ways to meet them. Though I didn’t realize it at the time, Big Momma was showing me what it means to be a Jesus-follower and make sacrifices in the service of loving one’s neighbors.

But in addition to the potential for legalism, there is another problem with spiritual highs—like all highs, they are temporary. Eventually, you sober up. And that’s when you find out what you’re really made of.

“If you’re going to call the shots, Lecrae, you’re going to have to take them too,” he told me. “For every one thousand people you influence, you’ll have one hundred critics. And many of them will call themselves Christian. That just comes with the territory.” Once again, I committed to die to the acceptance of men. To refocus all my attention on God’s glory and His calling on my life. I had learned to be unashamed in the midst of a fallen world. Now I needed to learn to be unashamed in the midst of a religious world.

My desire for acceptance is one of the crosses that I carry. Each morning I have to attend a funeral. My own. I have to wake up and once again die to my desires for people’s approval.

Now I realize that I’m free And I realize that I’m me And I found out that I’m not alone ’cause there’s plenty people like me That’s right, there’s plenty people like me All love me, despite me And all unashamed and all unafraid to speak out for what we might see

Father, allow us to use our gifts to paint an accurate picture of Your creativity and your goodness tonight. Help us to stay out of the way of Your will being done. We want to play a role, but we don’t want to take the lead. We are extras in Your movie, but not the star of this show. May we be humble. May we be grateful. May we be unashamed. Amen.

The same is true for you. If you are a politician, you don’t have a “secular” job. If you are a computer programmer, you don’t have a “secular” job. The term secular is defined as an attitude, activity, or thing that has no religious or spiritual basis. But there is nothing on the planet that God isn’t ruling over. Everything a believer touches and uses in a way that honors God is, in a sense, no longer “secular.” We all bring our sacred callings into a world that God created and called “good” and that has been tainted by sin, but where God wants to use us to impact for His glory.