Tuesday May 19, 2020

Your Daily Dose of Inspiration:

Ezra 9:5-6 And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the LORD my God, (6) saying: “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.

We see from Ezra the same reaction that we have seen from the other prophets who have encountered God. They instantly feel the weight of their sin. They are ashamed to be before the eyes of God, because never was their depravity more apparent than when exposed by His holiness. We do not have to be ashamed in the presence of God, however. If we have followed after Christ and have put on His righteousness and walked in His ways, there is no reason for us to be ashamed in the presence of God.

1 John 2:28-29 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. (29) If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

However, there is the implication in the apostle John’s words that some will shrink in shame at the coming of the Father, much like Adam and Eve. Those who have not practiced righteousness, those who have indulged sin in their lives will experience shame before the Lord, the measure of all that is good and holy.

Though all in sin will be ashamed when before the throne of God, many do not feel shame at their sins here and now. If you are thinking about the sin in your life and are feeling shame right now, be encouraged, you are not lost. For if you feel shame, it is still because you recognize and deep-down desire righteousness. God disciplines His own children.

Hebrews 12:4-8 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. (5) And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. (6) For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives.” (7) It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? (8) If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

There are those who even sit in the congregations of believers who, though they practice sin in their lives, feel no shame in it. Even when exposed in their sin, they do not repent of it.

Philippians 3:18-19 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. (19) Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.

Though shame in the presence of the Lord is a consequence of sin, it is good to feel shame when we have sinned. For it shows that our hearts have not been shut off from God.

-Jared Freeman, “The Weight of Sin”