Naked part 2
To be naked is to have nothing hidden. To be honest. Vulnerable. To let people see who you are. Who you REALLY are. Now let me show you something interesting in Genesis 3:7, "And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and mede themselves aprons." Let's track this: In Genesis 2:25 we see that, "...they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." Adding this to that leads me to believe that the reason they weren't ashamed of their nakedness is because they didn't even realize it. It was just how things was. It was the natural order of things. There wasn't naked AND clothed at that point. There was no reason to even think of covering up. It wasn't embarrassing, or shameful, or anything. It just was what it was. They had that bond with each other. Nothing in between each other. They were cleaved together. One flesh. They were on the same wavelength, if I can say it that way. They didn't need to HAVE secrets from each other. They simply lived in harmony with each other--and with God. They weren't concerned with things like clothes. They weren't concerned with things like good and evil. They walked with God in the cool of the evenings and everything was well. No worries. It wasn't until the serpent started to hiss in Eve's ear that things got twisted. See, God created man in His image. So for the serpent to say, "You have to eat from this tree of knoweldge of good and evil to be like God..." That was a lie. But Adam and Eve swallowed that lie. They believed that they weren't already like God, and it made sense to them that they would have to do something to become like Him. Unfortunately, it seems like that's still our mindset a lot of the time. We think we need to do in order to be. When the truth is, we do BECAUSE we be. What's inside comes flowing out. You have to fill yourself up with what you've already been filled with. That's the only way it works. You can't cover yourself. Only God can do that. And He DID do that. He saw man's attempt to cover his own nakedness, and--not because God had a problem with nakedness, but because man did--God took it a step further. From fig leaves to Lamb skin. God covered us... with Himself. Because He created us to be naked... but He never wanted us to be ashamed. When that mind shift took place where all of a sudden we KNEW we were naked, and didn't like it... even then God stepped in and said, "It's ok. I've got here. I'm going to cover you with myself and that way you don't have to be ashamed of who you are. That way you can still enjoy relationship--with me AND with each other." Because there is no way to have real relationship without that openness. That honesty. That vulnerability. It's not shameful. It's brave. Shutting your heart down SEEMS like the safe play, because that way you can't get hurt. But keeping your heart open is the RIGHT play. Because that way you don't miss out on what's available to you. You don't miss out on the LOVE that is available to you. With an open heart, with a naked, childlike faith, we can experience everything God has for us. Everything He has already given to us!