How to Avoid Shame

In you, O LORD, I seek refuge; do not let me ever be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me. Psalm 31:1

What a fitting Psalm for my own state of being. I need to remind myself that only "in God" is where I can have my refuge. If I don't want to be "put to shame", I need to make sure that I am "in your righteousness".

Many people may take the sentence above in a different angle. But for me this morning, I am thinking of the righteousness of God as the pious living according to His Word.

So many times we see people ended up in shame for something they did. A hidden sin were uncovered, questionable conducts surfaced up, bad deed in the past caught up in the presence. And at those times, what can we do to escape shameful consequence?

When we live according to God's Word, we seek to live in integrity so that we won't open up any stronghold for the enemies to be able to use to shame us later on. Paul urged his leaders to live "beyond reproach". Only in that lifestyle we can have full confidence that God's justice will be served and He will deliver us because we have been following His standard.

But note that the Word said, "in your righteousness" and not "in my righteousness". Even as we strive to follow God's standard in righteous living, it is clear that it's not easily achievable. God is holy, and we are not. So it's futiled for us to think that we have arrived, and it's equally foolish for us to lament about the fact that we could not ever get it. So we all making baby steps toward holiness, knowing that we are making headway, but we still a long way off. It's not how much ground you've covered in the journey, it's the increasing strength from the daily exercise of keep on moving.

How about this paraphrasing imagery: When we keep on moving toward your righteousness, we are also a moving target and it will also keeping the enemies from splaterring us with shame. The more we stay in sins, the more easily we will be put in shame.