Scripture of the week:
Ephesians 4:19 (EXB)
“19 They have lost all feeling of shame [or any sense of right and wrong; all feeling/sensitivity], and they use their lives for doing evil [abandon themselves to indecency/depravity]. They continually want to do [or greedily pursue] all kinds of evil [impurity].”
Shame RX of the week:
Shamelessness doesn’t happen just because we say it is so.
Shame is a huge buzz word these days. Desperate to rise above shame’s accusation, the shamed deal with shame by trying to dismiss it. We hear the term, “shameless” echoing through the airwaves, brazenly asserted by those who claim they have no shame. There is even a television show by that title, though its purpose is not to cultivate living a righteous, shame-free life. Strident in the face of guilt, much of our culture balks at the notion of shame. It seems odd to apologize in a culture saturated in pride. The boastful pride of life asserts that we are basically “good”, and should not need to have to defend ourselves when shame is cast our direction or comes knocking on the door of our minds.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not a proponent of shame. It is the tool of the devil. But shamelessness doesn’t happen just because we say it is so. And truly, wallowing and living in shame is not shame-free, after all. It is diving headlong into shame, giving oneself over to it.
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A shame-free status is a result of God’s intervention into our fallen state. The good news is that God wants to remove shame—all shame. Even better—He knows we are incapable of doing it ourselves. I think the backlash we see today is from hurting, hardened hearts who are truly desperate to be free from the weight of shame they have been carrying around, but instead of turning to salvation, they turn further toward shame.
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So, what is the way out of shame? What truly does it mean to be shameless? Without regret. Covered in grace. Guilty? Perhaps. But not boasting about it. Rather, being grounded in God’s truth, humility and grace, we can remove shame off us. And sweet is the freedom this shame-free life brings.
Living to please our flesh will only breed more shame. Living to please God and surrendering our shame over to Him only breeds unending joy. Come and taste and see that the LORD is good.