Each month, you’ll hear from one of us on what we’re reading and a little bit about the book. This month we’re sharing book notes on Jasmine Holmes’, Never Cast Out. Enjoy!
Valentine’s Day. A day some of us love and some of us loathe. For many years, Valentine’s Day felt like a neon sign flashing my relationship status to the whole world: SINGLE. One scroll on social media, and I felt less than and left out. “I should be in a relationship by now. What’s wrong with me?” I felt shame for being single. But I also reaped shame on myself for feeling this way as a Christian. How can I be discontent about this one thing when God has been so gracious and loving toward me?
Even though my relationship status has changed this year, the reality of shame in my life remains. Shame isn’t limited to a particular season of life. Shame was born in the garden and affects every single one of us.
Author and podcaster, Jasmine L. Holmes, understands this struggle as shame has been a constant companion for her. By the power of the Gospel, God has broken the chains of shame in Jasmine’s life. Jasmine shares this gospel-centered, empowering answer to the problem of shame in her new book Never Cast Out: How the Gospel Puts an End to the Story of Shame.
In the introduction she writes, “Wherever you land in your first-blush response to shame, this book is an invitation to dig deeper. It’s an invitation to explore the story of the birth of shame in the garden, its eventual death on the cross at Calvary, and how we wrestle with its ghost until Jesus comes again.” [1]
Jasmine wrote Never Cast Out to show how the Gospel puts an end to the story of shame. She wants to help you see shame in the small, inconspicuous places that you tend to miss.
The first part of the book focuses on the story of shame: where it comes from, what it is, what makes it different from guilt or conviction, and why it’s so pervasive. The beginning of shame started, well, in the beginning–in the garden of Eden. You’re likely familiar with the story of Adam and Eve. Eve was deceived by the serpent to eat the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden. “So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves” (Genesis 3:6b-7 CSB).
Before they disobeyed, Adam and Eve were naked, yet without shame. Afterward, they hid from the Lord and tried to cover themselves. Holmes explains, “Adam and Eve now had something to hide: their guilt. And so, like all of us try to do at some point, they tried to cover their guilt with something.” [2]
Jasmine carries this theme of fig leaves throughout the book. We all try to cover ourselves with flimsy fig leaves. The world offers numerous solutions and mixed messages to shame, but they always come up short. She addresses three false “gospels” prevalent in Christian women that can’t get the shame off: shake it off, work it off, and pass it off.
So, if these don’t work, what do we do with the shame? This leads to part two of the book: the end of shame. “How do we go from standing before a holy God in fig leaves to standing in the throne room completely justified, our shame totally covered with glory?
Jesus is how.” [3]
Jesus puts an end to shame by offering the following: a better covering, a better image, and a better message. He defeated the power of shame on the cross.
But until He comes again, the presence of shame remains, and we will continue to wrestle with its “ghost.” In the last part of the book, Jasmine gives practical and powerful ways to fight off shame. Body shaming. Marriage shaming. Single shaming. Mom shaming. Lifestyle shaming. Religious shaming. The list goes on for the things we struggle with as women.
Shame doesn’t get the final word though. Jesus does.
I hope you will read this book and discover that there is no better news than the Gospel for your shame.
Stacey Sapp lives in Nashville, TN and works as a Marketing & PR Specialist for B&H Publishing. She enjoys helping authors and has led marketing campaigns for numerous kids and adult trade books. She recently got engaged and will be getting married this Summer! In her free time, she loves road trips, laughter, live music, and seeing her niece and nephews.
[1] Jasmine L. Holmes, Never Cast Out (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2023), 4.
[2] Jasmine L. Holmes, Never Cast Out (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2023), 22.
[3] Jasmine L. Holmes, Never Cast Out (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2023), 90.
