I’ve been readin’ through the Book of Jeremiah.  Boy oh boy is that a tough read!  Poor Jeremiah!  He had to say some really tough things to God’s people!

One thing that really struck me was when God says in chapter 6 verse 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”.  He repeats Himself in chapter 8 verse 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.”

That really struck me because it made me think about the times in my life when I lived in open sin and didn’t seem bothered all that much by it.  Lookin’ back I’ve seen this happen for two reasons:  I was either so brazen and lost that I didn’t care I was in sin or I was so ignorant to God, who He is and what He asks that I didn’t know that I should be embarrassed and ashamed.  God expects us to be neither brazen nor ignorant.

As I pondered this idea of losin’ the ability to blush, I realized, I too often seem to think of the “biggies”.  I’m not murderin’ anybody, I’m not committin’ adultery and so forth.  I’m doin’ pretty good, lookin’ pretty clean.  Yeah, I’m a “good Christian” woman.  Oh boy, does that spell trouble.  It is precisely when I think that I’m doin’ all the right things, and measurin’ up pretty well that I’ve got myself so steeped in sin that I don’t even see it as sin anymore, I lose the ability to blush.

I think what gets me into more trouble is my mouth.  It is just waaay too easy for me to gossip, make a cuttin’ remark, to judge others, be sarcastic or employ an insultin’ tone.  Ouch!  There’s a whole lot of sin there that I couldn’t even see!  Some of it I’m so used to doin’ it, it ceased to bother me, some of it (like the sarcasm) I didn’t even know was sin until I examined that kind of communication against the scriptures and how we ought to treat each other.  Some I justified by sayin’ “Well that’s their problem because that’s just the way I am…” or “They deserve it, they sinned first.”  Problem is, while we are sinful by nature, we are called to die to that sinful flesh and take on the ressurected and sanctified body of Christ, so if a "part of my personality" is sinful, it's got to go, that simple.  As for my other "justification", my actions are always separate from the actions of another.  My sin is never ever justified by the sin of another.  Sin cannot redeem sin, only God’s grace and mercy can and that is what needs to be communicated through my mouth.

Oh Lord, continue to reveal to me the areas that need to come into obedience to you.  Lord, I don’t want to brazen nor ignorant in my sin.  Show me the areas in which I have lost the ability to blush that ought to cause me great embarrassment and shame!