UNASHAMED

 
Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in thee: Let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me. Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: Let them be ashamed which transgress without cause. Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: According to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness' sake, O LORD. All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.
Psalm 25:1‭-‬3‭, ‬7‭, ‬10 KJV

¶Shame can be a powerful motivator. It never occurs in isolation, but only in the context of a relationship with another whose opinion is valuable. Even to say "I don't care what anybody else thinks" is to seek their approval of your independence. Isolation does not provide relief from shame. It only buries it deeper. We can hide from shame, but ultimately we are just hiding from ourselves. We can expose our shame, with the hope that someone will grant us the acceptance we crave.

Rigid societies seek to value truth above mercy, and punish societal offenses mercilessly. Lax societies seek to value mercy over truth, and sacrifice the sense of right and wrong. However, when we favor one over the other, we get neither. We get only shame, either privately hidden or publicly exposed. In rigid societies truth withers behind a wall of hypocrisy. In lax societies mercy solidifies into repressive political correctness. No fig leaf can hide what God knows of our hearts. No excuse can relieve us of the fact that we are our brothers' keepers.

But, on the path of the Lord, mercy and truth meet. The broken covenant that links mercy and truth is superseded and replaced by a previous one made between Father and Son for there to be a people given to the Son not on the basis of their faithfulness, but upon His own. Not ashamed to call us brothers, He knows us, yet never leaves us, so we're unashamed.