October 8, 2024

Passage Read: 2 Corinthians 4-5
Meditation Verse: 4:2

Thought

Anything that brings shame, instead of hiding it, covering it, continuing in it but claiming freedom, deceiving people about it, Paul renounced it. If he could not practice it publicly because it was shameful, he did away with it. He didn't try to convince everyone that it was honorable or a source of pride; he turned away from it and ceased to practice it. Shame is a marker for things that ought not be. If a behavior brings shame and compels us to conceal it, the solution is not to reprogram society, but self, to do away with the behavior. If God's Word tells us a behavior is wrong and sparks shame in us, that is a behavior that needs to be shut down.

Application

Shame over sinful behavior is the Holy Spirit and my own conscience telling me that something I'm doing is not right. If I feel like I need to hide a behavior, I actually need to get rid of it. If I have to distort or reinterpret the Word of God, as if to make myself feel better, I actually need to repent and renounce the behavior. I need to stop negotiating with God and with His Word, and just submit to what He has written for my instruction and benefit. My chief desire needs always to be to please the Lord, not myself or others who struggle with the same or any other sin.