Discovery ByOlakunle Yusuf: Can You Feel The Shame?
Were they ashamed because of the abomination they have done? They were not even ashamed at all; they did not even know how to blush. Jeremiah 6:15
Have you noticed how the moral climate of our society has shifted in the last few years? More and more people are living in open sin … and they don’t think a thing about it.
What’s the big deal about having sex before you’re married, or cheating on your spouse, or stealing from the government, or lying to get ahead at work, or having an abortion, or bailing on your family? Who are you to tell me that what I am doing is wrong?! The Bible says, “This is the way of an adulterous woman: she eats and wipes her mouth, and says, ‘I have done no wrong’” (Proverbs 30:20). The adulterous woman is like the growing number of people in our world today: a people who have forgotten how to blush.
One of the marks of a hardened heart is the inability to feel shame and conviction of the Holy Spirit. If you can sin BIG TIME and not feel the sting of the Lord’s displeasure, something is very wrong inside.
Peter was one who boasted and bragged that he was ready to go with the Lord to prison and even to death. He said all the other disciples may deny Christ, but he would NEVER deny Him. As you know, however, he did deny him … not once … not twice … but three times in a row. And after the third denial, punctuated with cursing and swearing to prove he didn’t know Him, the Bible says, “And the Lord turned and looked at Peter … and he [Peter] went out and wept bitterly.” He could feel the shame.
Peter had failed miserably. But praise God, he didn’t blow it off as not a big deal. He still knew how to blush, to feel shame and the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Do you?
FEELING THE SHAME SO YOU CAN FEEL NO SHAME
Does God want us to live in shame? Absolutely not! But, He wants us to feel the shame and to come out of the deception that our sins are “no big deal” so that we can get right with Him.
If we follow the example of the adulterous woman and say, “I am not guilty (when we clearly are),” we don’t erase the guilt, we just lie to ourselves. After passing the sentence of death on the faultless Jesus of Nazareth, Pilate said, “I am innocent of the blood of this just man.” But we all know that he wasn’t innocent. Rather, he sent an innocent man to his death. Oceans of water could not remove the guilt on Pilate’s hands … yet he felt no shame.
Here is the truth about shame: until you feel the shame of your sin … until breaking God’s law breaks your heart, you will never be able to get right with Him. But, when you soften your heart and allow God’s truth to permeate and convict, you can rightly deal with the sin that has become a part of you.
Peter went out and wept bitterly over denying His Lord. He thought there was no way for him to ever be restored … but he was wrong. His shame and conviction before God opened the door for the Lord’s grace, forgiveness, and restoration. The same can be true of you.
Do you know how to blush … how to feel ashamed of yourself when you blatantly sin against the Lord? If so, thank God for it. It shows that your heart is still sensitive to Him. Get your sins out of the closet and under His blood. Humbly confess to Him and claim His complete and total cleansing. And begin to walk in His ways. Make the decision to quit compromising with sin. You’ll be so glad that you did.
And God will be glorified.
