'BLUSH"

Here in Nashville, TN there is a boutique called “Blush”. Blush’s ultimate goal is to provide shoppers with a boutique that carries the most unique, fashion forward designs at an affordable price. You can visit blush at www.blushboutiques.com. 

Blush (defined); to redden in the cheeks or face; to be suddenly suffused with a red color in the cheeks or face, from a sense of guilt, shame, confusion, modesty, diffidence or surprise; followed by, at or for, before the cause of blushing; as to blush at your corruptions; blush for your degraded country.

Most women, however, would describe the word blush as a type of makeup often applied to the cheek area of the face with a makeup brush (in order to even out skin tone or to add more color). It is commonly found as a powder, but can also come in other forms, such as creams or liquids. Sometimes, blush is also used to make the face look wider or longer. 

As I was reading through the bible this past year I came across the word “Blush” in Jeremiah 6:15; it reads, “Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed; nor did they know how to blush…” The background for this particular passage was that the children of Israel were completely indifferent to God’s Word. Having failed to understand the written law of the Lord, the people now reject the spoken word of the Lord through the prophets. And when their sins were brought to their attention and their abominations made known…they were neither ashamed nor knew how to blush. 

Growing up I was a shy little girl. I remember always blushing at things that seemed to never faze the next person, feeling embarrassed or uncomfortable. But now days it seems like the only blush we’re experiencing, is the makeup a woman puts on her cheeks. What happened to the times when people blushed from a sense of shame, mistake, shyness, restriction, etc? 

Are we as a nation in the same frame of mind (or should I say state of heart) as the children of Israel? Have we nurtured a generation that does not know how to blush? It seems as if nothing embarrasses people. Is there anything sacred; are there no topics off limit – subjects to be shared solely in the privacy of our home, with our spouses and children? It seems as if any and everything is discussed or viewed on Television, radio or social network; subjects as personal as a woman’s menstrual cycle to a man having an erection. There was a time when such issues were censored from our homes. A time when our young men would look for belts; but now their pants hang below the buttocks. A time when women would cover body parts that have been designed specifically for their husbands.  No shame, no embarrassment, no regard, nothing. 

Does this suggest that we as a nation have lost our ability to discern good from evil, or to distinguish between the things that are pleasing to God from the things that are not? If you were to advise a woman that her dress is provocative; or a young man that their behavior is offensive, you would be told not to judge? We earnestly need to repent as a nation, as leaders, as parents, as people of God for our failure to demonstrate or teach a generation about modest behavior.  Our men ought to lead by example. We so desperately need the heart of the fathers to turn to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers...(Malachi 4:6). The bible says let the older women teach the younger women. O that we would “Blush” concerning the things that displease God and set our face as flint to declare the things that speaks of Him.