Sometimes we’re embarrassed. Maybe we did something silly, thinking that no one was watching; then we found out somebody saw us, and we were embarrassed. Or we did something we thought was brilliant, and it backfired–and we were mortified. Hopefully we look back on these and laugh. There’s a time when embarrassment is necessary, however, and laughter is not appropriate.
The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah mentions shame in his prophecy regarding Judah: “To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear? Behold, their ears are closed and they cannot listen. Behold, the word of the LORD has become a reproach to them; they have no delight in it. . . . They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ but there is no peace. Were they ashamed because of the abomination they have done? They were not ashamed at all; they did not even know how to blush”(6:10-15, NASB). These were people who had achieved such numbness to their hypocrisy that they felt no shame for their deceit. Two chapters later, the LORD tells Jeremiah, “You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Do men fall and not get up again? Does one turn away and not repent? Why then has this people, Jerusalem, turned away in continual apostasy? They hold fast to deceit, they refuse to return”’”(8:4-5, NASB). And then he reiterates the same sentiment bemoaning their lack of shame for sin: “They certainly were not ashamed, and they did not know how to blush”(Jeremiah 8:12, NASB).
This is a journalistic and instructive passage for us in the Old Testament. God makes specific statements regarding tendencies of men in general and of sinful men, specifically, which he charges Jeremiah to communicate. 2600 years later–we still have these tendencies!
We may lose our delight in the LORD, close our ears to God’s Word, and turn from truth, all while presenting a fake spirituality in front of others. We may repeatedly evidence a lack of submission to God’s Word or an absence of a spiritual mindset; yet we sit in church and smile, sprinkling our speech and social media with religious platitudes throughout the week. We may promote a surface peace, ignoring sin to “keep the peace.” It’s possible to become so accustomed to this deceit and superficiality that we lose the ability to recognize our hypocrisy or blush at our shamefulness.
In 2 Corinthians 7, Paul writes of his joy at the church’s humble and repentant response to a disciplinary letter he’d sent them: “For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it–though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. As it is, I rejoice, not because you grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief”(vv. 8-9a).
Submissively search God’s Word for his will. Have the humility, courage, and wisdom to do what you know is right. Pray that you see yourself as God sees you, even when that honest view may cause you to blush; then turn it around. Grieve for your sin, and then move that grief toward repentance. Once you recognize your superficiality as shameful, you’ve already made progress toward the genuineness which glorifies God.