Shame On You....

I heard this occasionally when I was a kid. Now I wasn't a bad kid, rather, I was very normal (I think). I'd make mistakes, try things my own way, test the waters so to speak. But when I did, instead of spankings (very seldom) I would hear, "shame on you!" or "you know better than that!"

I know I didn't appreciate it at the time and it may have scarred my psyche, but it also did something that I never expected, it taught me something important, something valuable and as I look around the world today, something increasingly rare...shame. My mother taught me the power and the value of shame. Shame is a gift if used correctly and where there is no shame, there is unrestrained action.

The lack of shame led to the downfall of Sodom, Gomorrah, and Samaria (Israel). They weren't ashamed because they had relaxed their moral standards, lived in ways that pleased themselves. Most everything was proclaimed acceptable and shame was forgotten. Living was more about feeling good (being happy?). That was Ezekiel's task, to teach Judah shame, so that they would come back to God.

Life has so much more to offer than the pursuit of happiness...

...it is the pursuit of righteousness (right living).

There is such a thing as morality and it comes not from humans, but from God. It is morality that brings the basis of shame. This shame is a wall that protects what is precious, living God's way, which is they way humans were created to live. Shame is deterrant to rebellion, to acting inappropriately, to forgetting God and God's principles. Shame is a key to living the right life.

But don't we hate feeling shame? Yes we do, but that is exactly the point. Shame is what leads us to confession and repentance, but is also the remnant, the memory, that protects us from sinning again. It is like the memory of getting burned the first time, you don't touch hot things again (intentionally). Shame steers us in the right direction.

I'm thankful today that my Mom taught me shame. She never said she was ashamed of me, rather she told me I should be ashamed of myself. While God isn't pleased with our actions, but rather than just being ashamed of us, God wants us to learn to be ashamed of ourselves so that we can live rightly.

Yes, shame is the beginning of a life not of happiness, but of great joy!

Peace ><>
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