Do you ever think about how Adam and
Eve felt when the shame of their nakedness drove them to cover up
with leaves and hide from God? (Genesis 3:7-8)
They possessed everything anyone could
ever want: perfect unity with God, perfect unity with each other and
paradise for a backyard, but temptation got the better of them didn't
it?
Sometimes I wonder, would it make a
difference if I was able to go back in time and explain to the first
family what the consequences of their sin would be? Whatever the
answer to that hypothetical question, as their children, we are prone
to sell our futures and prostitute ourselves for lesser fruits.
We regularly seek to cover our shame.
Perhaps that's why we fuss and fret
when our employment is taken from us, our significant others abandon
us, and our lives refuse to follow the script we've drawn up...we are
left naked, without something to hide behind.
To be naked is to be vulnerable,
without protection, exposed to the world for what we really are.
I felt so naked, for the last year I've watched myself become this borderline psychotic, neurotic mess. Leaving behind a favorite church, good friends, a good reputation and a good job have done a number on me (and still are). I've been tempted to give into sin patterns I reckon I'd long ditched, made excuses for causing others harm, all the while attempting to hide who I really was behind any "leaves" nearby. Sometimes the worst thing someone could call me was godly, because I knew, I, Jean-Marc was not that. But thank God it is not up to me.
We are asked to clothe ourselves in
Jesus Christ (Romans 13:14), this means we seek not to be wrapped up
in ourselves, work, even other people; He should be the first thing
people notice about us.
Easier said then done, I know, but no
matter where you are, we all start his journey the same way: “Jesus,
please do this through me”
May God teach us to wrap ourselves in
Him.
Besides this you know the time, that
the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer
to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day
is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on
the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in
orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not
in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
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