WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU SAW A PERSON BLUSH?

When was the last time you saw a person blush? I remember well the last time I saw someone blush. It happened to be following a Bible class conducted in the home of members of the church. After the class ended, we were enjoying eating snacks and enjoying being together. I asked this Christian lady to help me to hoe in my garden that was located on her property. She mentioned that she had asked some of the ladies present to assist me to do a certain job in my garden. The word she used to define that particular kind of labor was correct; however, when she said the word, it took on an entirely different meaning. When she realized what she had said, she ‘turned as red as a beet’ (which is an ancient saying). She was totally embarrassed! You could see the redness beginning in her neck and traveling up to engulf her face. She was embarrassed and she blushed!! That incident occurred back in the 1980s. Would you believe there was a time in the history of God’s chosen people that no one blushed? Read carefully the words found in Jeremiah 6:15: “Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,” says the LORD.” The priests, prophets and and many of the kings of Judah had led the people into idolatry and away from God. They were guilty of every kind of abominations, even to the offering of their sons to be burned in homage to a foreign god. It was a of time of immorality. Their consciences were ‘seared’. Did anyone feel ashamed of their wretched deeds? No! In fact, they did not even know how to blush! There are many of our young people who do not know the meaning of the word ‘blush’, because they have never seen anyone blush. Here is one definition found in the dictionary “A reddening of the face, especially from modesty, embarrassment, or shame.” This is not indictment against all, for there are morally conservative persons who would not be included in the following remarks. Generally speaking, we have been desensitized! The definition of the word is: “To make emotionally insensitive or unresponsive, as by long exposure...” We have come a very long way from the four letter word used in the movie “Gone With the Wind”, that appeared in 1939. Now, we hear swearing and every vulgar and ‘curse’ word imaginable on television and in the movies. We are not bothered by all the gory deaths we see on the silver screen. Children are now ‘sex-texting’ and sending nude pictures of themselves to others The swimwear used by many women reveal ninety percent of their bodies to be seen by all. There is no embarrassment, shame, and no one is blushing. However, there is a time when Christians should not blush. In the words of the song, AM I A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS, written by Isaac Watts (1721-24), and that is when we claim Jesus as our Savior. Here are the lyrics found in the first stanza: “Am I a soldier of the cross, A follower of the Lamb, And shall I fear to own His cause, Or blush to speak His name?” Of course, we are not to be ashamed of our Lord or His Word.