The Parade magazine carried an article last Sunday entitled “Shame May Not Be So Bad After All,” by Dr. Joyce Brothers. It carried pictures, beginning with a representation of Adam and Eve, and suggested that “Maybe it’s time to invite the useful aspects of shame back into our culture.” The author said, “The blush of shame, the pain in the pit of the stomach, the feeling of being naked and exposed to the glare of others—this is universal across all cultures, although the things that make us feel ashamed may vary.

In short, shame has come with the territory of being human from time immemorial. Think back to the story of Adam and Eve and the way they are often depicted in art: ashamed of their nakedness, ashamed of having gone against the will of God.”

This spurred my curiosity about what the Bible actually says about shame. My computer program says that the word is used one hundred and fifteen times in the Bible. Twenty-two times in the book of Psalms and fifteen in the book of Proverbs. Jeremiah said, “Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! they were not at all ashamed; Nor did they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; At the time I punish them, they shall be cast down, says the Lord” (Jer. 6:15; 8:12).

Someone said “the more things change, the more they remain the same.” What Jeremiah said about his generation could certainly be said about this generation. How long has it been since you saw anyone blush? The article in Parade said that women realize that they need to expose more in order to get attention. It quoted Madonna who, in 1983 said, “I have no shame.” The shameful thing about that is her shameless conduct has made her wealthy. In fact, it has gotten so bad that even people of the world have decided that it has gone too far and are trying to put some restrictions on the shameless conduct  that is presented as entertainment.

The feeling of shame can be a great motivator to improve. Jeremiah said that God’s people “lie down in our shame, and our reproach covers us. For we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God” (Jer. 3:25).  Paul wrote about the “unfruitful works of darkness” and said “For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret” (Eph. 5:11,12). If a person loses his sense of shame—either for his own actions or the actions of others, he is like the man described by Paul: “whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things” (Phil. 3:19).

Sometimes we have to endure what the world considers shameful. The writer of Hebrews said, “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2). Jesus was aware of the shame connected with death by crucifixion, but it did not deter Him from doing the will of His Father. Shame can motivate us to change from evil but should not frighten us from doing God’s will, even if it brings ridicule from the ungodly.

The article in Parade concluded: “In the past, we may have allowed ourselves to be burdened too much by shame. Today, it’s lack of shame that appears to be the burden. Maybe it’s time to invite the useful aspects of shame back into our culture. Shame is, after all, ultimately related to virtue, a word that also is not used much any more but continues to have meaning. ’The only shame is to have none,’ wrote the philosopher Blaise Pascal centuries ago. We ought to keep his words in mind.”