Growing up, I was really shy, so I’ve had a lot of embarrassing moments over the years. Some were worse than others, but if you’ve ever been embarrassed you know that it’s not any fun, no matter the intensity. Embarrassment is embarrassment.
I’m sure it happened before, but the first time I recall was when I was around seven years old. We were at one of the neighborhood grocery stores, and the owner’s daughter, who was quite a bit older than me, and her mother were talking to my grandmother about me. Probably talking about how cute I was, or something. I don’t remember, because right there in front of her mom and dad, and my grandmother, and a store full of people, the girl looked at me and asked, “Are you my little boyfriend?” I don’t know why, but that was so embarrassing to me.
Later on, when I was eight years old, our church went on a field trip to an amusement park. I had never been to anything like that before, so I was super excited. We enjoyed lots of rides, games, and food, but at some point in the day, I saw the bumper cars. I ran to get in line. There were lots of other people there, so the lines were quite long. The line in front of me grew smaller with each group of kids that were let through the gate. They would drive around bumping into each other, yelling and screaming. They seemed to be having the time of their lives. I could hardly wait to get in there and join in the fun.
Then, it was time for another group to go in. When the gate flew open we all ran as quickly as we could and jumped in the cars and waited for the guy to throw the switch. Then it happened. The cars started moving. The kids started yelling. The fun had begun, but there I sat in a car that wasn’t moving. It didn’t work. I had gotten into one of several cars that were out of commission. I just knew everybody in line was staring at me and laughing. I was so embarrassed.
Another time, after I was ten, maybe fourth or fifth grade, we went on a field trip from school to an electronics factory called ITT where they made phones and other electronics. I was at the end of the line, and my friend Randy was in front of me. I had turned to the side and was looking around, not really paying attention. The line was long and curved around the corner and down the next aisle, so I could see the teacher and the kids at the front of the line from where I was standing. When I saw them start moving, I stepped forward without turning all the way around. Then I bumped into Randy. He wasn’t moving, so I pushed him and said, “Go on!” But he didn’t budge. I stepped back and looked at him, but it wasn’t him. I looked up into the face of a strange woman staring down at me with a mean look on her face. Another embarrassing moment in my life.
Another time, we were at school and it was lunchtime. We were just sitting down in the lunchroom. We had stools to sit on at the lunch table at that time. In getting himself situated after he had sat down, Randy bounced the stool a couple of times to get closer to the table. On the last bounce, he picked that stool up and slammed it down on top of my foot. As I screamed as loud as I could, my voice echoed through the cafeteria and probably down the hall, and into all the classrooms. That was embarrassing enough, but one of the teachers made it worse by yelling at me in front of a room full of my peers. Very embarrassing.
On another church outing, we went to the skating rink. I think I was fifteen then. Although I had played around with a pair of my mother’s old skates, I had never really tried to skate before, but I put on a pair that night and headed out on the floor. Immediately, my feet flew out from under me, and my elbows both caught the full weight of my body as they smashed into the concrete floor. That was embarrassing enough, but it would be worse later. My sisters did well, but it took me quite a while, and quite a few bruises to get used to moving around on those little wheels.
Later on that evening, I was doing a little better. Although I was much slower than almost everybody else there, I was soon making laps with them. Then a pretty girl came in with some friends and started skating. I noticed her watching me, and that made me even more nervous than I already was. We exchanged a few smiles, and finally a few words in passing. It wasn’t long before I was feeling pretty confident, and being a dumb teenage boy I forgot that I was just learning to skate.
I don’t know exactly what happened, but the next thing I knew it felt like my knee was ripped out of my leg, as I landed on it in front of a mob of speedsters flying by, trying desperately to avoid becoming part of a twenty-skate pile-up. I could only imagine what the girl I was trying to impress was thinking as I pictured her standing there looking at the idiot rolling around on the floor, writhing in pain. There I was with my broken pride, a ton of bruises, and a big hole in the knee of my green nylon pants. I was sooooo embarrassed. So embarrassed.
I’ve had plenty of other embarrassing moments in my life, but the most embarrassing moment I could ever imagine is standing before God and hearing these words, “Depart from me, I never knew you.” That’s what Jesus says will happen if we are not faithful to God (Matthew 7:23, 25:41). He also said, “But whosoever denies me before men, I will also deny them before my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:33).
That would be more than embarrassing, it would be detrimental. Eternal Life forfeited. I can’t imagine anybody truly wanting that. If you haven’t been born again, what are you waiting for? You can come to Jesus today, just as you are. In Matthew 10:32 Jesus said, “Whosoever confesses me before men, I will also confess them before my Father who is in heaven.”
Romans 10:9-10 says,
9 If you confess the Lord Jesus with your mouth and believe in your mind that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 Because with the mind, a person has faith that leads to righteousness, and with the mouth, confession becomes salvation.
You don’t have to be embarrassed on that day. Confess him now, ask him to forgive your sins, and commit yourself to follow, and obey him today. He’s waiting.
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