How to look good Naked!

There are a few reasons I'm reposting this from the September archives. One, is to remind myself of a lesson I need to relearn over and over again, and the second reason is because of a sermon that Pastor Robert, Gateway's and my own Pastor, spoke on this weekend. To view the sermon go *here. It's on the sins of the first family (Adam and Eve) and one of those sins included shame and the inability to be vulnerable. But vulnerability and authenticity are precious characteristics that God calls each one of us to. It's time to stop hiding and step into God's design for us!

I sat in front of a pastor today and explained my experiences with God lately and I could only find one metaphor. I felt, and feel like He is stripping me naked, like one of those old paper dolls we used to play with as children. But instead of clothes, he's stripping me of lies and false identity, and I am laid bare. Naked is actually, spiritually speaking, a great thing to be right now. It means vulnerability, and it means that I'm able to start putting on the truth. Let's face it, can I be real? Life's hard, excruciatingly so at times. Marriages end, people fall ill, children get molested, murders happen frequently, abuse occurs way too often, and things never quite work out the way they are supposed to, and one way that we protect ourselves from the hurts of this world is by putting on defense mechanisms, false identities, and walls; but we loose vulnerability and authenticity in the process. That's why when we come across someone who is vulnerable and authentic it seems precious and odd, because it is so very rare. Naked, spiritually speaking, is also a scary place to be. It's new, and sometimes it even hurts when you're taking off lies that have been there so many years. But amidst the tears, I know that it's worth it. You see, at some point before the fall when Adam and Eve were first created we were naked, spiritually and physically, and we were okay with it. We laid bare in front of God and each other and enjoyed the intimacy we're so created to have. We poured out our souls and were completely vulnerable. And then the fall happened, and predictably Adam and Eve hid both from God and each other. No longer free to be vulnerable, no longer free to have true intimacy. Oh, but the good news is that true intimacy with God and others can be gained! Christ came to set the captives free! Christ tore the veil between us and God forever. But we've got to get naked...spiritually that is. We've got to lay it all out there for Him, and that's scary, I know! But the best part is that by laying yourself bare, by becoming vulnerable, you give others the permission to do so as well. I challenge us all today to get with God and ask Him. Ask Him to show you what you've been hiding underneath, what lies you've put on, what mechanisms you've been hiding behind. Get real, and get naked.

Genesis 2:25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

*sermon available starting this Monday*