Naked & Unashamed

Genesis 2:25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

The first time the word ‘naked’ is mentioned, it is associated with being unashamed. The associates were our fore father & mother.

Once Adam & Eve ate of the fruit, shame was added to being naked; and so they sought fig trees to cover their shame. God only asked them who told them that they had been naked!

To be naked, in the Hebrew bore extra meanings as well, such as; ‘cast away restraint, break loose, lightly clad’ or without the outer garment.’

When we are all born, no one comes wrapped in swaddling clothes or pampers! We all come nude. Little creatures so innocent of face and pure of heart, with nothing to hide, and nothing to be ashamed of!

That’s the kind of nakedness Adam and Eve bore. It reminds me of Jesus’ maxim; ‘Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.’ (Matthew 18:3)

I believe part of being as little children is doing things little children do. For example, they are not egocentric nor environmentally aware that they will feel shy to undress to go play in the water sprouting out a public hydrant in the street.

Growing as a boy, at about 5/6 years, running around naked wasn’t a big deal! I was unashamed. Maybe because my understanding wasn’t mature enough or polluted yet.

It is with this argument that God justified to me the state of shamelessness A & E were living in. They met in the cool of the evening, pubic hair and all, daily, open parts and all! And not an ounce of shame exuded out of them.

Moral? God wants you to come to Him NOT ASHAMED at all!

But what causes shame? For Adam & Eve, it was after disobedience. For Cain, it was sinning. For all of us, it is doing wrong…

When we broke glasses in African homes, it was almost rated an unforgivable crime. Research says this was because these were very expensive, almost to the value of antiques.

But no child in their right mind woke up to intentionally break a glass. It was always by accident. Many of us forget that the sin we commit isn’t intentional. And even if it was, there’s a blood that flowed, to satisfy the wrath that would punish, to pay the price of the broken glass, therefore leading to the disannulling of the need to punish … by the glass owner, and the need to come with shame, by the glass breaker.

For this reason (the blood), God said through Jeremiah that our sins He’d remember no more (31:34). He cast them into the sea of forgetfulness. (Micah 7:19) So as you remind God about something bad you did, He will ask ‘what did you do?’ And I am sure if the knower of all things doesn’t have a record of it, then it’s no worth you holding on to it.

This is all God dealing with shame and all its causes; the very thing that He doesn’t want you to approach Him with. In fact, you can’t approach God with shame. Adam & Eve had been hiding when God came for their usual meet and they were AWOL.

What will enable you to come to God’s throne with boldness and without shame will be your surplus of knowledge. The knowledge of how He dealt with shame by forgetting your sin! If you’re ignorant of what Jesus did for example, this ignorance will hand you over into the hands of perishing … whose attribute is shame. You’ll then run to find leaves to cover your shame up at the very time you ought to be at your usual rendezvous with God.

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Nakedness to me, also symbolizes a degree of intimacy. A man and woman in love at a level of intimacy have sex as a result. But usually it isn’t with clothes on. They have it in a bedroom, under sheets… without anyone else watching but them. Of course not all couples have perfect features or pecs. Some have stretch marks and molds growing in random places. But intimacy looks beyond all of that.

Solomon wrote in His Song, chapter 4 verse 17 that, ‘there’s no flaw in you, my love’. This is the same mentality God wants you to carry when you come to Him, even as you live your daily life, that you are PERFECT to Him. And if He says you are, then no other man’s opinion matters. Not even yours!

With all the above, I ask;

Are you naked before God? Are you naked and unashamed before Him? Are you sincere with Him? Are you INTIMATE with Him to the degree that He can see your nakedness?… Or do you carry layers of makeup before God? Do you try to hide your scars before Him? Do you hide yourself under thick garments, hoping He doesn’t see where it hurts, or where there’s a scar!

It’s pointless to hide before Him. He’s all knowing. Even if you’re the most masculine, He knows your fears, the things that make you cry, even when the world you don’t want to know. He knows! He sees through walls, and He wants you to know that it’s okay! It’s okay to be vulnerable before Him. It’s okay to be broken or to break before Him! He won’t judge you! He understands every hurt & gap. He’ll embrace and FILL!

And do you know why? …

He did it before you! We love Him because He loved us first. We can be vulnerable before Him, because He was vulnerable before us first. He did a silly thing! To die for us. He became man. He became a fool. O what love! And if He’s telling us it is alright to be naked and unashamed before Him, it is probably because He was naked and unashamed before us FIRST! Here’s how;

Remember that veil in the temple! It was keeping Him away from you! So He got naked! He tore & rent the shards that hid Him from you…that you may see Him fully as He is… that you may know Him as Adam KNEW Eve…

And now that you know that He became naked for you . . . will you be naked and unashamed before Him? Will you tell Him your secrets? Will you spend time with Him? Will you ask Him to pick what you’d wear & what to do. Will you consult Him first before consulting your friends? If you’re married, will you both be naked before Him like Adam & Eve were?…

If you do, then you must understand that there’s a reward to it all. Being naked and unashamed about God and to God is seeking God first and His righteousness. All things in life shall be added unto you (Matt 6:33) That’s reward number one.

Secondly, nakedness is a faith, just like Christianity is. It is a way of life! Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word, and His word desires that we come naked and unashamed to Him. Since it is a faith, then if you’re naked before God, know that you’re pleasing to Him, and as you come to Him daily, diligently seeking Him like Adam and Eve did, He rewards you (Heb 11:6) in ways far above what you can think or imagine!

David is a perfect example of someone who was naked and unashamed before and about God. He tried to hide before God but He figured it out. ‘Whether I make my bed in hell, or fly with the wings of the morning…Even there you’d find me’ He said. And so He must have said ‘What’s the point…let me let Him!’

It’s been about 3000 years since David walked the earth, and He’s called Israel’s greatest king. His fame & legacy have and are still resounding in all the earth, not by His own effort, but by the God who made all that you see!

What a reward!

It’s just one out of the many that await you too, if you choose to be naked (intimate) & unashamed before the God of Heaven and Earth!

…and being naked doesn’t end here. The elders in Heaven cast their golden crowns and bow down as they worship God saying “Holy, holy, holy!” Remember to be ‘naked’ means ‘cast away restraint’. That casting represents them ‘undressing’, just like when you get one shirt off as you prepare to go shower.

Abraham was naked and too unashamed to even tell His wife that God had asked Him to sacrifice the child they’d been waiting for! He was an epitome of vulnerability to God that in that intimacy He subtly said ‘I’d do whatever you’re asking for, my God, my love…’

Abraham lived 6000 years ago, and yet His name still resounds as though He’s the president of the United States! Every believer is a son or daughter of His, obtaining a right of inheritance of the earth from Him … and there’s been billions & billions of these since time immemorial!

What a reward!

And all these actions, all these acts, have rewards no kind of gold can ever give!

Get naked already I say … before God!