ASHAMED!

ASHAMED!

Rom 6:19-23

19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.

20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.

21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.

22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

          Youthful, or perhaps I should say, former things are things of which we may be now ashamed! Many are the actions and decisions of former days that have produced for us the fruit of pain. At the time, we either were not aware of the serious consequences of our actions or we were in such a state of rebellion against reason that we did not care. Now, however, those things shame us.

          The entire life of Samson illustrates the truth of this concept. Samson would not yield himself to God but preferred the pleasures of the flesh. He was not ignorant of God or the power of God. He simply had a personal preference for impurity and the result was blindness, captivity and death (see Judges chapter 16). His final words were a prayer and his final actions were defiant. As verse 21 says “the end of those things is death.”

          If only our insight and foresight could be as clear as our hindsight! Scars in our flesh and in our mind tell the story of foolish or rebellious decisions. We are now ashamed of them but we must live with their life altering consequences.

          Even more foolish would be to continue on the path of foolishness and pain. When we stop living selfishly, and begin to live responsibly, the fruit we produce is both sweet and beneficial. We have awakened and responded to truth and that truth is setting us free. We no longer are earning the wages of sin but are enjoying the gift of God which is eternal life. We have learned that deciding to obey God is not only beneficial and fruitful but gradually begins to heal the shame of our former sinful life.

Joel 2:25-27

25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.

26 And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord  your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.

27 And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord  your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.

Dear Father, let thy blood erase the pain and shame of former foolish days. AMEN