Naked People

Add one naked person to any crowd, anywhere and you’ve got instant awareness; “Hey! There’s a naked person!” Beautiful, ugly, young, old, male, female…naked will turn heads on a swivel. Depending on multiple factors, heads will spin toward, away, up, down and quite possibly some necks will suffer severe sprain.

Five years ago my wife and I spent a few weeks in Jamaica. We found a quiet beach with no kids and no noise which was no small feat. We were pretty impressed with ourselves…until we discovered that it was a clothing optional area. “Ginger! Look at that lady over there!” To which Ginger said, “Randy! Look at me…NOW!” The rest of that story is that we used that section of the beach quite often for the peace it afforded. Our swim suits stayed ON. And yes, I behaved…most of the time.

There was a time in the human experience when it did not matter. There was a time, long, long ago when being naked didn’t even merit a comment. No heads swiveled. God made it that way. Adam and Eve had absolutely no consciousness of their condition. “Naked and unashamed” is the exact descriptor of that state.

This is not going to be some weird nudist admonition. OK? Now, tune in.

The original word for ashamed meant, “not confused or in any way slowed down”. IT DID NOT MATTER! IT HAD NO BEARING ON HOW THEY LIVED THEIR LIVES. Eve didn’t have an eating disorder born out of some disgusting demand on her life to have a certain “look”. Adam was not driven by a broken and unbridled “need” to impress Eve. Body image had no bearing on personal definitions.

What would our lives be like if no external factor mattered, at any level? What source would nourish our value systems, our assessments and our judgments if we were unregulated by the dominance of sensory perceptions?

Does this have anything to do with Jesus commandment, “Do not judge lest you be judged” (Matthew 7:1)? I am convinced that it does. I am convinced that the arrival of the Kingdom of God through the ministry of Jesus Christ has re-introduced a climate for freedom beyond our normal imaginations.

The Presence of God was once the glory (weightiness) that made nakedness irrelevant. Now the Presence of God can be a glory (weightiness) that offers a completely new platform for our self-awareness and security.

Let me come at this in another way. God would like to complete us in ways we ordinarily assign to our appearance. This doesn’t mean that I stop shaving, brushing my teeth and combing my hair. It means that when people meet me that they can be immediately and convincingly aware of that God is with me.

More than my power tie, more than my designer suit, more than how much I weigh, more than my complexion, more than my hygiene; there is SomeOne ON me.

God is with me and His Presence in my life makes heads swivel. This is my goal in life and I will live in THAT power suit all the days of my life.