Transparent

Although the man and his wife were both naked, they were not ashamed. (Genesis 2:25 CEV)

Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with. (James 5:16 MSG)

One week, when I was teaching, I shared a story from my childhood that was rather embarrassing and more than a little dangerous.  I had searched our house for a battery charger and could not find it.  After awhile, I decided that I would simply charge the D-Cell battery myself.  I went to my dad's "electrical" box in his workshop, pulled out two wires, plugged one into one side of an outlet, plugged the second into the other side of the same outlet, then touched the open ends to the two ends of my battery and...POOF!  Thanks to the over-engineering of the day, the battery shell did not completely explode, but it did blow up like a balloon.  Smoke rose from the deformed d-cell, battery acid oozed from the cracks in the shell,  and the lights had all gone out - I had blown a fuse.

The week after sharing this story, my mom came up to me, looked me in the eye with a perplexed look on her face, and asked, "When did you try to recharge a battery in dad's workshop?"  I hadn't told her.  I hadn't told dad either.  In fact, I replaced the fuze, disposed of the battery, cleaned up the oozing acid, and opened doors and windows to remove the smell from the workshop.  Mom and dad weren't home at the moment and I didn't want them to find out...ever.

Adam and Eve did the same thing.  Immediately after eating the fruit and feeling shame for their nakedness, they tried to hide (Genesis 3:7-8).  Fig leaves didn't do the job very well, so God gave them better clothing a little later in the passage (Genesis 3:21).  They couldn't hid their sin from God any better than I could hide my mistake from my parents.  Yeah, I may have kept it away from them for a little longer, but even in my situation God knew immediately what I had done.  You just can't hide things from Him.

When God created Adam and Eve, we see a picture of what He intended for our lives.  Not only were they unashamed, they were actually naked.  They were transparent.  There was nothing hidden from God or from one another.  Their minds and hearts were so pure - filled only with thoughts that God intended for them - that they could be completely transparent without feeling any shame.

When I truly walk with God, I love Him with everything and love my neighbor as myself.  That loves comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and a sincere faith.  It's so pure, clear, and sincere that I have nothing hidden because there is nothing to hide.  I am transparent and unashamed.  That is the picture I pursue.  That is the picture He intended for me.  That is the picture He wants for you, too.  Are you ready to pursue that picture?  Let's go.