I read her post and it was on. The thought train pulled into the station and I boarded; took me a good ways – a round trip all the way back to the Garden of Eden.
She was right; before sin Adam and Eve were naked and unashamed and well they should have been. However, no such public ‘well they should’ is attainable on earth today.
Revelation 3:17 (NKJV) 17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— source
Shall we return to the beginning?
Genesis 2:25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. source
The two were naked and unashamed – spiritually, emotionally, and physically.
You see that word naked in Hebrew more definitively means ‘bare’. So we could say they were bare before GOD and unashamed or since they were unashamed at being bare, they did no hiding from GOD. But when they sinned, they lost that confidence and so much more! And the cover up began!
Seems ironic to me that as time has marched on the more women refuse to bare themselves before the holy God, the more they expose themselves to an unholy world and profess to be unashamed of it.
Where was I? Oh yes. Adam and Eve.
After sin they were immediately aware of the change and they sewed for themselves loin-coverings in an attempt to cover the nakedness they had brought on themselves and all who would come after them, through them. Please note also they hid from the Presence of the LORD when He came for His usual walk in the cool of the day. Their bare confidence was gone! (Genesis 3)
I wonder if these propensities to bare our bodies is yet another perversion of our innate longing to be bare, to be seen, and known by GOD. Allow me to summarize a conversation I had with my beloved in the midst of writing this post.
As a man when we are out and women cross our path I will often take note that she is attractive if she has presented herself well; but when she is scantily clad with cleavage showing and thighs shining I think Ugh! Why?! Put some clothes on!
And I said but you are not like the world’s men, your nakedness has been covered; the world’s men have not and they want to see that.
What grieves my spirit is when women who profess love for JESUS give no thoughtful concern to contributing to the nakedness of the world’s men and even more than that, give no appreciable thought to honoring JESUS with their physical ‘coverings’ which should give testimony that they have spiritually received HIS COVERING.
The Bible instructs us to dress in modest apparel; perhaps we would do well to examine what we are trying to hide when we expose so much of our skin to the world. Our clothing choices must not be ultimately based on culture and trending fashion. It is no easy task to find modest apparel in today’s market; especially swimwear. Much of today’s swimwear gives less coverage than underwear. I get the pull to wear it – it was my practice too before my eyes were opened. Would we consider that the covering of our physical nakedness before we step out our doors into community is an act of worship? (Question is who are we worshiping?) As Christian women do we not want the clothes we wear to testify to people that our spiritual nakedness has been covered by the shed Blood of JESUS? And would we also be willing to acknowledge when we refuse to wear modest apparel we are giving testimony to all who see us that we are our own god; that we have chosen for ourselves what is right and wrong?
When the Father made the coats of skin to cover the bodies of Adam and Eve, He was demonstrating for them and for us that covering our nakedness involved much more than just our bodies; fig leaf aprons would never do! Rescuing them and us required the shedding of blood and the ultimate blood to be shed would be HIS VERY OWN SON’s. There was no other way! With this being so, I will most gladly with all honor and pleasure dress myself in modest apparel. It’s a small token of gratitude to give to Him Who has covered my wretched nakedness and shame. I would rather it not have taken me decades to get here so if I can help shorten a sister’s travel time to modesty that would be my delight; hence this posting.
Salt and Light,
Kathie
