Jeremiah 6:15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush:

A sermon on this topic really resonated with me a few years ago. Even though I’d read those words in Jeremiah before, I never really thought much of them. I don’t remember every word of that sermon, but I do remember one thing. For the first time, I understood what it meant and I knew how it applied to me. I realized then, I had lost my blush.

As a little girl, I was around some pretty foul-mouthed adults. My mom sure tried to protect me, but the exposure was inevitable. As I grew up, kids in school would use adult language or behave inappropriately. I would see things on TV that made me feel uncomfortable. I would hear a dirty word or a dirty joke. In those situations, I could feel my face getting warm. It’s as if what I was feeling on the inside was too much. It couldn’t be contained so it seeped through my little cheeks as an outward reflection of the embarrassment I felt for being near “the wrong.” I’m not saying I didn’t strain to hear it or see it, but I am saying I had a real, physical reaction and it was obvious to anyone looking at me that I was uncomfortable.

The more I experienced those situations, the more comfortable I became in them. I pushed the boundaries. I thought inappropriate thoughts myself. I said them out loud. I acted on them. I did these things over and over, and eventually, did them without the slightest blush. I became calloused. Did I still claim to love Jesus? Of course! I said I did. Did I feel guilty? Of course! Sometimes. But I had no blush. No reservation. No embarrassment.

The harder people laughed at what I said, or the more engaged they became, the more I gave them. No blush.

The funnier something was on TV, or the more entertaining, the more I watched. No blush.

I’m ashamed of how I behaved while claiming I was a Christian. The Holy Spirit lives in me, yes? How could I be both the temple for the Holy Spirit and the source of such filth? I couldn’t. I can’t. And neither can you.

As our society pushes the boundaries further and further toward complete Godlessness, we need to hold on to and fight for, our simple and natural reaction to evil. We should feel something when we are around it. When the Holy Spirit truly lives in us and when we are walking with Christ, unclean language and actions should make us blush. We should be embarrassed to be around it, and definitely be too awkward to participate in it ourselves. Our bodies (temples) should have a physical opposition to evil in the form of a blush at the very least.

Are we heading in the right direction as a society? Do you think we have morals worth a dime anymore? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? I didn’t think so. In fact, we’re heading in the opposite direction so far so fast, I can’t imagine what will come next! My adult daughter told me one day that my husband and I are rare because we love each other, and we are monogamous. Rare. What a sad world we live in. How did we get here? We acclimated, we became numb, we lost our blush.

You know how hard it is to move the needle in a society that has fallen so far from the truth. But I am reminding you, God can work through us in mighty ways. WE ARE God’s hands and feet. WE ARE the ones in society that should be standing up for what is right, and moral, and good. WE SHOULD BE set apart, look different, and behave better than the average Joe. Remember the barometer. If I didn’t tell you I was a Christian, would you even know? Let’s get back to pursuing God so hard we become uncomfortable around evil. We avoid it if we can, and certainly don’t participate in it. We don’t contribute to crass jokes and common slandering. We don’t encourage gossip and moral decay. We have high standards for what we say and do, not because we are better than anybody else, but because we are called to be set apart. We need people to know that Jesus changes lives, and they see those changes in us.

And when we run smack into an ungodly situation we didn’t see coming, which will inevitably happen, we at least have the decency to blush.

Fully immersed in The Scarlet Letters.