Still Naked

Who told you that you were naked? (Genesis 3:11)

Here I go again. I’m sorry, I love words. I love to speak them, spell them and type them; occasionally, I even have to eat them. MMMmmmm.

I watched a hilarious movie last night. The made for television version of Shallow Hal with Jack Black. That guy’s just funny to look at.

Anyway, the jist of the story was: beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Apparently, motivational guru Tony Robbins had cast a spell on Hal that made him look past a person’s physical appearance and see only their inward beauty.

Coincidentally, or perhaps Providentially, I had just been reading Donald Miller’s Searching for God Knows What, the chapter called Naked. His point was eerily similar.

Spooky.

So, here comes the New Year. Here come the resolutions to get thin like Paris, rich like Bill and wild like Johnny Eldredge. I guess the hope in all that is to increase one’s self-worth. But, what if there was no reference to our perceived value?

Think about it.

What if there were no celebrities or commercials to give us a point of comparison?

Really, it seems that we spend the majority of our lives comparing and competing with one another, hoping to reach some apex of applause and acceptance.

In the beginning----they just sat around naked. It was no big deal. I mean there’s not even a mention of sunscreen. Just living, breathing, nudity twenty-four-seven without the shame. Seems weird eh?

What if man never sinned?

We’d still be livin’ in the buff.

There’d be no Levi’s, no skater wear, no lingerie, no tightie-whities.

There’d be no labels. Just plain people.

Hey, what if we started this orthodox, legalistic church where we not only wanted to sing hymns all the time, but we wanted to obey the original dress code. Okay, that was gross. Rebuke those thoughts.


The point is this: Jesus Christ came to earth, suffered, died and rose again so that we would once again find our worth in God.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with trying to be a good steward and improve on what God has given us. Motive is the question.

Am I doing this to win the applause of men or the applause of heaven?

You see in God’s eyes we’re still naked. He sees past the fashion and fitness and into the deepest part of our being. He sees our superficial motives and challenges us to give more attention to the inward than the outward. As I read the words of Jesus, I see that God is far more concerned about the kind of people we are rather than what we do.

Yes, God sees our nakedness and some of us can look pretty funky from the inside out. The fig leaves of Weight-Watchers, Atkins, South Beach, Liz Claiborne, LB, Mercedes, Rolex and Prada, yada, yada-bling-ding-a-ling offer no hope.

God has x-ray vision.

He challenges us to be clothed not with nylon, polyester, cotton or my personal favorite: Spandex; rather, we are to put on Christ.

Galatians 3:27
for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

If you have immersed your life in Christ then be satisfied in knowing that the competition is over. You’ve won the real applause. Sure, go ahead and be a good steward of your body, your finances, your family, your possessions; but, never let those things define your worth.

Remember, to God....... you’re still naked.