You oughtta be ashamed of yourself!

You oughta be ashamed of yourself!

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September 14, 2020

In my own experience, all emotions have their root in love or fear. While it may seem binary, I propose that we live in one or the other. That is to say, each moment, each decision will be a choice to endorse love or fear. Unfortunately, many of my moments in life have endorsed fear and my decisions have manifested that in the short term or long run. Like we are inclined to do, I have justified many of these decisions to feel better about them. Fortunately, I'm continuously shown love, which enables me to make decisions in love at times too.

"Practice makes perfect." I've heard, but I doubt it. Practice makes better, however, is something I can get behind. As we go about our living, our chronological moments informed by decisions, we are practicing. We will get better at love or fear depending on which we practice more. Such practice requires discipline, but not discipline of the body like athletics or diet. Rather, discipline of one's mind, our choices, is required to practice love.

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the

world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (from Paul's 2nd letter to the Corinthians)

To take thoughts captive requires identification of our thoughts. My bride has often said, "People think being Christian is difficult because it requires you to think all the time." I look at it as conscious time. There are a certain number of hours we must dedicate to rest and fuel. I often say that I'm not a big fan of eating and sleeping because they take up too much time. While that's partly tongue in cheek, there's usually truth in our joking and I must admit that I have practiced that perspective for most of my life now. I do that because I don't want to be lazy. I don't want to be apathetic. I don't want to be complacent or satisfied. I ask myself why is it difficult to focus? Why is it so hard to take our thoughts captive and be conscious, vigilant, diligent in every moment? I suspect distraction and I'd like to address one of the biggest distractions.

"You oughtta be ashamed of yourself!" I don't know if I've said this as an adult as much as I heard it as a child, but it's close. Admittedly, I don't remember who said it to me; I don't think it was my parents. As many children, I made a lot of selfish and unwise decisions while growing up. Like many adults, I still make selfish and unwise decisions. I don't, however, endorse that I (or anybody else) ought to be ashamed of myself.

Shame, in fact, is a weapon used against us. It is a paralyzing venom that, when injected into our souls, slows our minds with distracting thoughts. It dulls our wit by deadening our feelings. It causes our perspective to become myopic with self centered criticism. It kills us.

The Bible clearly says, "There is, therefore, NO CONDEMNATION for those who are in Christ Jesus." So, how do we get to believe and feel that way when the world distracts us, telling us we're not enough, we're lacking, we oughtta be ashamed of ourselves? Just yesterday, my daughter would not stop indicating that I feel ashamed for not taking her on my nightly walk with the dogs. She took a few minutes, highlighting each of the ways she'd seen me act selfishly over the weekend. It was eye-opening and embarrassing. I recognized her motivation and the distraction it could become, but there was a real, hard emotion that I was feeling. Of course my feelings of guilt led to anger and I had to choke back a hostile reaction. I'm sorry to say, I don't always act with such discipline, but I'm getting better. I'm practicing.

I propose that it comes full circle. I believe that when we recognize that we're practicing shame (fear) or consciousness (love), we are practicing discipline. We must stand in faith, that we are forgiven, loved and anointed, and behave like it. We must step out believing that we're fit for the task, willing to fail, hoping to fly. This is where the discipline of community becomes so important. Whether you're able to gather with a local congregation or you are relegated to seek that community in a virtual manner, don't give up the habit of meeting with others. Fight and forgive, challenge and discuss, live and love with each other. Be conscious. Live abundantly. Be here, now...