and prayed: “I am too ashamed and disgraced, my God, to lift up my face to you, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens.” Ezra 9:6

Shame is often looked down on as a weak characteristic. People are often told to take pride in who they are, regardless of what they have done. Everything done is what makes a person who they are. If one is ashamed of what he has done, it is seen as weakness and a loss of pride. This especially applies to what others have done that are connected.

Ezra had heard of what sins the people were committing. He then bows down before God praying and tells God that he is too ashamed to look up to Him because of the sins of the people was too great.

The world does not have a rock solid foundation of standards in which they live by. What may be wrong today can be acceptable tomorrow, or the other way around. Right and wrong fluctuate on a regular basis. Without that foundation, there is no shame in what is done.

Everything is about self and the moment. Believers have a solid foundation in which they live by. It is a standard based upon God’s word and leads one to live in holiness and righteousness, not selfishness and sin.

When there is sin in one’s life, there comes a sorrow of shame at failing to live by God’s standards. Along with shame for one’s own sins, there is also shame for the sins of those around the believer.

Just as Jesus took on the sins of the whole world, believers will take on the sins of their family, city, state, or nation. They will seek God’s mercy and forgiveness for themselves and for others, which Jesus provides with His death and resurrection.

As a believer you are most likely ashamed of your own personal sins that you know about and repent before God for them. However, do you see the sins of those around you and your nation?

See the world as God does and weep at the sins being committed. Seek God’s mercy and forgiveness for those around you. Be willing to be a witness and let people know about God’s holy and perfect standards and His grace and mercy found in Jesus Christ.

Today I pray that you will know Jesus as your Lord and Savior; that you will see the sins against God being committed around you; that you will weep for the world and seek God’s mercy and forgiveness; and that you will point people to God’s great love found in Jesus.