“And he (Adam) said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.“ Genesis 3:7
We have seen the instinctive tendency and reaction of the human heart is to cover up and hide every sign of failure, lack, weakness or inadequacy, ashamed that we so obviously and so frequently fall short of perfection. Not only are those shortcomings obvious to and even built into us by Yehovah when He created us, they are also so evident to all those around us that we are not as perfect as we may like to pretend to be. After all, they witness our lack of perfection through our mistakes, shortcomings, bad behaviour, temper tantrums, mood swings (the list goes on and on), no doubt on a daily basis.
And yet, we all so often try to maintain an air of strength, self-sufficiency, independence, confidence, and super-spirituality. We want people to love, accept and respect us – without perhaps realising that if they do so based on a false and exterior-only image we have portrayed to them, then we will certainly lose that high regard if and, more likely when, that false façade falls.
In Revelation 3, Yeshua speaks to the Church of Laodicea, telling them that while they may say they are rich and in need of nothing, He sees them as wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. Perhaps they had become so accustomed to putting on a false image, one they thought would impress others who saw them, maybe even Yehovah Himself. But Yehovah saw through the disguise and saw them for what they really were. In the same way, He is looking for us to see ourselves as He sees us, to stop putting on a mask and an outfit we think will impress Him and others. He desires truth in the inward parts. After all, He knows us as we really are, and He loves us despite our all too obvious shortcomings and inadequacies. Romans 5:8 tells us it was “while we were yet sinners” that Yeshua came and died for us.