Shame

"Eve After the Fall"

2 Timothy 1:12 "For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day."

This blog has the theme of shameless surrender in hopes that we might know Christ more. To this point there has been a great deal of focus on surrender. This post however is going to take a look at shameless... the absence of shame.

What is shame? It certainly is an emotion. Perhaps it is an affect of someone's actions or reactions. It can be a cognition, or mental process that a person can be conscious of or not. There certainly can be an unconscious response to shame, or at least an attempt to forgo it. But really shame can be summed up in its original origins of "to cover." Shame caused Adam and Eve to hide their nakedness. Shame causes us to hide and cover up perhaps the majority of who we really are.

Shame works bi-directional. Shame is avoided, sometimes at all cost, from men - - from experiencing it with our peers. The problem is that as we hide behind the false coverings crafted in words and deviously intended deeds, we simultaneously create a reason to be shameful when presented with God. Do we be honest with man, or God?

Shameless, as inspired by the Holy Spirit and as part of "shameless surrender," is that there be NO SHAME... shameless before man and God.

I heard something on the radio this morning. They were discussing social networking and how people have become very open because of Facebook, twitter, and the likes. We know who you are in relationship with, your sexual orientation, what you had for breakfast, and so on. But what is the one thing NO ONE talks about?

Think about it....

I know many are thinking something spiritual. And it is spiritual in what it reveals. But what I am thinking of is that no one talks about how much money they make.

For the record... I have made slightly less than $28,000 in 2011. I am not ashamed of that today. Last week, I would be very ashamed having made more than 20 times that in years gone by. But the point is for the bulk of us, perhaps even all of us... our god that we do not want to bring shame to is money. The god of money, the god of credit score, the god of financial reputation.

At the end of the day it does not matter how much I make. What matters is did I earn it in obedience to God. It would not matter if I made 28 million if I did it obeying God. There is only one place of shameless living. And that is in obedience to God.

I am not ashamed of where I live, what I do, what I wear. I am not ashamed if God has blessed me with riches, and I am not ashamed if I go bankrupt a thousand times obeying the Lord. I am not ashamed my waistline is bigger than my chest. I am not ashamed that my back is hairier than my head.:-)

I am not ashamed of the gospel, for IT IS THE POWER of God for salvation to everyone who believes. I am not ashamed of being overwhelmed in the presence of God to the point of tears, or being unable to stand. I am not ashamed to comfort the downtrodden. I am not ashamed... I am not ashamed...

I am shameless!