Shame is an essential element in true repentance. Thomas Watson says that, “blushing is the color of virtue. When the heart has been made black with sin, grace makes the face red with blushing: ‘I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face,’ Ezra 9:6).”

True repentance is always painful and sorrowful, but it is true. We need to recover the art of blushing in church life, private life, business life and cultural life.

Thomas Watson, The Doctrine of Repentance (Banner of Truth, p. 39)