When Horrible Becomes Normal

Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Jeremiah 6:15

When you talk about attempting to eat right as much as I do, people notice what you eat. At work, when I lose control and eat a donut, I hear about it from everyone the next day. Sometimes I wish I’d just kept my mouth shut. Sometimes I just want to stuff myself with pizza and cake in peace. I want to indulge in my destructive behavior without anyone knowing or caring.

When I get away with something, without anyone pointing it out, I become comfortable with it. In my drug addiction, I engaged in behavior that I now find horrifying. At the time though, as long as it was a secret, it was just normal. I forgot how to be ashamed. I forgot how to blush.

Most of us are like this. Most of us have something that we do not want exposed on the news or in the paper. We’ve grown comfortable with it, but if someone put a spotlight on it, suddenly, we would remember shame. We would recall how to blush.

It’s easy when reading today’s passage to look down on those addicted to alcohol, gambling, or porn. This passage though, is about those things that we have come to tolerate in our own lives without even thinking about them. This passage is about our destructive pursuits of self, with which we have become far too comfortable.

We claim to follow God, but we live for ourselves. We fail to love our neighbors. We live for our own glory, success, and pleasure, instead of living for our creator, thus embracing a lifestyle that is as destructive as any addiction. It is far more dangerous though, as this is subtle, acceptable behavior. The drug addict at least usually hangs his head in shame when exposed.

If we want to live in the freedom God means for us to experience, then we must be painfully honest, examining ourselves to see what destructive pursuits of self we are tolerating. We must ask God to expose them and we must ask him what to do with them. Then, we must obey, daily abandoning ourselves in pursuit of him.