Blush or Brazen
Good Morning,
Any honest person knows that we sin. Even if it is not called sin, we know we fail, fall short, and make mistakes.
Notice what Jeremiah points out regarding the mess Israel had become.
Jeremiah 8:12 “Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.”
I remember hearing about queers when I was a child; the subject was always whispered – it was embarrassing even to talk about. I remember when my parents were the only people any of us knew who were divorced. We did not talk about it, and when friends came to our house, I always told them my mom’s last name was not Goddard but Ryan so no one was embarrassed by using the wrong name.
As children, our family went to the beach or the mountains where there was a lake. Our family was all boys, two of us and three boy cousins. We would wear cut off jeans to swim. As an eighth grader, I was invited to a party with a bunch of our classmates at someone’s house, and we had to wear a swim suit, no cut off jeans were allowed. I did not have one. My mom took me to buy a swimsuit and I could not believe people wore something so… form fitting and revealing? I do not know what I felt, but when I got to the party, I went straight into the water and never left it.
There was “shame” or “modesty” or an emotion innocent children naturally have – there was a BLUSH.
In junior high, every normal boy was interested in girls and wanted to kiss one, but we did not!
Even in the public school of 1970, shame, blush, and modesty existed. Of course there was sin, and people did wrong; we knew or heard whispers about it, but no one would openly talk about it. This was not a “narrow-minded” private school, it was a normal public school. One girl in our high school got pregnant, and she was moved out of our school; no one even talked about where or why, but we knew it was due to her being “PG.” No one would use the term pregnant, and this was in ninth grade, 1971.
Over time, we have seen blush turn to brazen; embarrassment has been turned to emboldened. This is the point at which God turns a nation away and ruin peeks over the horizon.
Sin has always been around, and sin has always hurt people, but as long as society has some “blush,” hope exists and God shows some degree of mercy.
The trends in society of supporting brazenness and degrading one’s blush is not due to social development but to shameful development.
Jeremiah 3:3 mentions that the people refused to be ashamed.
Philippians 3:19 speaks of those who glory in their shame.
Jeremiah 6:15 “Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.”
Of course, the people of Israel would sin, but their actions were bold, brazen, and daring; as a result, they became devoid of help from Heaven.
Isaiah 3:9 “The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.”
Are we embarrassed for our children to see an inappropriate scene on the television? Are we ashamed when indiscreet images end up before our eyes? Or have we become “enlightened and emboldened?” The difference will determine whether or not we have the presence of God and His mercy.
When we started our church in 1982, baby and bridal showers were always specified about the type of shower. If it were a “PERSONAL SHOWER,” only married ladies were invited; teens were not invited. Those personal things were not to be in front of single, young ladies. As the old cigarette commercials use to say, “You’ve come a long way baby,” and it has been all the wrong direction.
How has society affected our Christian homes in the last fifty years? What do our children see? Is there any “BLUSH?”
Pastor