They don't know how to blush

Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed, Nor did they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; In the time of their punishment They shall be cast down," says the LORD. – Jeremiah 8.12

What a wonderful way to describe the world we live in today. Were the people in Jeremiah's ashamed of their sin? No, in fact they didn’t even know how to blush. Is our world ashamed of its sin today?

The strange thing is that blushing has almost become something to be embarrassed about. No one likes to look a ‘prude’ or an innocent. We are embarrassed to be embarrassed, we are ashamed of being ashamed, the thought of blushing makes us blush.

That’s a real tragedy. Sin ought to make us blush. There are things that are a shame to speak of even in private. A lack of sensitivity to sin should be something to concern us. If we can’t blush at our sin something is seriously wrong.

Even in these days of open mindedness and moral ‘freedom’ and open sin and marches and parades and celebrations of sin God’s people have work to do if we are not embarrassed by the sin around us.

But it is even worse when we are not shamed by the sin in our own lives. The ‘little’ inner sins in our hearts can get so entrenched that we grow accustomed to them being there and the shame we once felt is gone.

That shame should not lead us to live guilt ravaged lives. Instead our shame should lead us to repentance and seeking God’s forgiveness.

It is vital that God’s people blush at sin – and then do something about it.