Have You No Shame?

The other day as headed out of the RV park for my morning ride in the desert I was shocked to see a woman reclining in a lounge chair next to her trailer wearing just her bra and panties. I told myself I must have been mistaken; it was surely a white bikini. When I returned from my ride, she was standing on her patio enabling me to confirm what I couldn’t believe: it was her underwear. I realize she was no more exposed than if she had been in a skimpy bathing suit, but something just seemed wrong.

This got me thinking about the guys with their pants sagging below their buttocks showing a swath of boxers. At this point sagging has become a fashion statement of sorts, but I wonder how many who practice it know its origin. It began as a way for men in prison to announce their status; it meant they had become the “property” of someone: they had been raped or had willingly given sexual favors to another man. The desire to be perceived this way is puzzling to me. This and the woman in her underwear say to me that they don’t care if the world knows they have low moral standards.

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that worldly people have a worldly attitude. However, as I wrote some time ago in “Women’s Attire – Again!” even the church is slipping into worldly opinions when it comes to how women dress. I think the church is largely missing Paul’s admonition to the Ephesians, “And do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather even expose them. For it is shameful even to speak about the things being done by them in secret.” These days, the shameful things aren’t even kept in secret. But they are still shameful even if some people don’t feel shame in doing them.

I know it is not my place to judge the world; Jesus will do that when the time comes. But I wonder if there is more the church could do to partner with the Holy Spirit in His task of convicting the world, “concerning sin… righteousness… and judgement.” It is the duty of the church to judge its own. It is also the responsibility of those of us who teach the Word to renounce, “shameful hidden things, not behaving with craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but with the open proclamation of the truth commending ourselves to every person’s conscience before God.” There are too many “crafty” expositors these days who find biblical license for things that are clearly shameful. And, sadly, it would appear that the collective conscience of the church is not what Paul would have expected.

We shrug when our politicians are caught in lies. We laugh at or swoon over ungodly entertainers who populate our TV programs 24/7. We wink at the rampant promiscuity and serial marriages plaguing our young people. We buckle under the rabid consumerism constantly washing over us in video and print to the point that material success and accumulation of objects become predominant over the nurture of our spiritual well-being. Not even our church gatherings have escaped the shamelessness as they elevate entertainment over content.

This will sound very old fashioned, but what we need is to go to the Cross. There we find legitimate shame. There we find the One who, “endured the cross, disregarding the shame” so that we might be given eternal life. I wonder if some Christians participate in shameful behavior because they are ashamed to identify with Christ before a fallen world. This is dangerous. Jesus warned that if we are ashamed of Him before men, He will be ashamed of us before the Father in Heaven. We need to stand beneath the cross and say with Paul, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation.” That is the only place we should have no shame.