When I eat at home, my normal dining companion is the TV. It just doesn’t seem right to eat with “the sound of silence.” Even then, I usually choose to watch something I have recorded so I can jet through the commercials.
Recently, I was eating with the folks at Antiques Roadshow. A two-word phrase they use repeatedly in every episode caught my attention and imagination. The two words are the title of this blog post, “condition issues.”
There are times when the “condition issues” of the antique do not have much of an impact on the item’s estimated value. But, most times, the expert gently informs the owner of its value, then adds something like, “But if it didn’t have the condition issues, it would be worth….” Why would they crush the owner on international TV, in effect, saying, “You should have taken better care of your stuff.”
As I thought about this phrase, I became aware that I am, and probably you also, are often devaluing our lives by reciting our “condition issues” to ourselves over and over. In my case, that unsolicited self-evaluation feels like a cold, slimy bucket of shame poured over my head and heart.
The stupid decisions, the moral failures, and the breaches of law I have committed in the past keep popping up, reminding me I am hopelessly flawed. Sometimes I have to dig around in my footlocker to find my “happy face” to wear in public. It would be social suicide if my friends ever found out my buried shame.
Over the years of preaching, Saturday nights were intense preparation for Sunday morning sermons. Part of what made the preparation intense is the kryptonite of dark, toxic secrets. The shame was paralyzing. The distance between God and me and His people was devastating to my creativity and confidence.
There were some issues that I dare not even mention to God. I could not face myself before Him. Over time, and in desperation to find freedom from my history, I began to talk to Him in a spirit of transparency. That helped. And in some cases, that confession was refreshing. On other issues, I felt compelled to go to Jan and openly confess my insidious secrets. Like God, Jan never told me to pack my bags and get out! I felt like she and He have every right to distance themselves from me. That’s exactly what I wanted to do to myself: get away from my shame.
So great is God’s love for me, as well as Jan’s love for me, that my confessions were met with, “Yep, that was bad. But that was then, and this is now, and I know you and love the you that you are today!”
The condition issues that sprout roots of shame cannot be undone or forgotten. The truth is that those issues are there to remind us just how brutal the cross was that Jesus died upon. They remind me of the depth and width and length of God’s compassion, mercy, and grace.
I am miserable when I find myself sloshing around in a period of noxious shame. Indeed, the things I have done and the attitudes I held are disgustingly shameful. But they no longer devalue my person. Yes, they grieve me. But, by Father’s invitation, I have chosen to accept His offer to lift me out of the muck and set my feet, as the old hymn says, on firmer ground.
The shame I experience is well deserved. To be released from the effect of that shame is not! But I have a sure hope of glorious participation in the Kingdom of God. That hope sets me free from that old bondage. My past has not changed, but my path has. My life has significant “condition issues”; those issues may still cause me to feel shame, but they have not brought the value of my life down.
Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. Zephaniah 3:19 ESV
Photo – Taken in the Spring of 2025 in Robertson County, Tennessee.
Baldwin Heirlooms 