Naked and Unashamed vs. Naked and Afraid
Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
Psalm 139:23
Scripture is so perfect and piercing. It is like a knife that plunges into the depths of who we are, opens us up and shows us the truth. We cannot search ourselves. We will delude ourselves into thinking it’s God searching us when it’s actually only our own mind and our self-protective pride.
“Only The Holy Spirit is a sin killer. We are sin managers.”
How can we know the difference? Our mind will tell us we need to be better and guilt will consume us. Our pride will tell us to try harder and control our actions. If we are actually successful to some degree, we will start to look down on people that don’t have it together as much as we do. It becomes a vicious cycle. We cannot kill sin, we can only press it into submission…for a while. Only The Holy Spirit is a sin killer. We are sin managers.
When we search ourselves, we feel naked and afraid.
“We don’t have to fix ourselves on any level. We can’t. When God searches us, we are naked and unashamed.”
On the other hand, if we let God search us, He will get to the root of why we do what we do. There will be no condemnation. As He reveals who we are, we only have to agree with Him and admit our powerlessness to do one single thing about it apart from His Spirit performing a miracle inside. We don’t have to fix ourselves on any level. We can’t. When God searches us, we are naked and unashamed.
“For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.” – Romans 7:18
No good thing is in me or you. Nothing means “no thing.” When confession equals self-loathing and humiliation, it means we thought we ought to be better. It’s one of the highest forms of what God hates most, pride.
On the other hand, to come before our Father in humility and ask Him to search us and know us like no one else on the planet, ask Him to show us what offends His holiness…that is beautiful and vulnerable intimacy.
“We have nothing to give except our broken and contrite heart, and that’s all He wants”
When we draw near to Him and He draws near to us and speaks, it’s pure love from Him and thankfulness from us. He wasn’t expecting anything out of us anyway. We have nothing to give except our broken and contrite heart, and that’s all He wants. He does the rest.
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”
Psalm 51:17
This kind of repentance come from the Greek word metanoia and it means to change our mind (not change our actions). When our mind truly changes, our actions naturally follow.
But this kind of repentance is not about regret or guilt or shame; it implies making a decision to turn around, to face a new direction.
Do we understand that God searches us, shows us the problem, we agree, we turn around and face a new direction. This gives such a different perspective about confession of sin.
“When “not sinning” is the goal, sin is the focus, not God.”
Trying to improve will only make us sin worse. Take my word for it, I’ve tried. When “not sinning” is the goal, sin is the focus, not God. When God is our only goal, the beginning of the end of sin has started to come.
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
Matthew 6:33
When we were born again, God deposited His kingdom into us. If we will turn to Him and seek only His righteousness (we have none), we will walk this earth in freedom and victory. God promises to add everything else to us that we would ever need or desire.
It’s so simple:
“At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.”
Matthew 11:25-26
God only asks that we come to Him with childlike faith and trust. When that starts to happen in our hearts, we have truly arrived. Not arrival in the sense of becoming something, arrival in the sense of going back to the way we were created to live, naked and unashamed before our Creator.
Until this way of thinking becomes real in us, we will constantly try to cover ourselves before God (#figleaves) and others. Don’t settle for naked and afraid, when naked and unashamed is your birthright.
