Seventh-day Adventist® Church

After a very long, traffic congested, painfully slow journey from Watford to Glasgow today, I am glad to be settled and reflect on my day.

During my journey I was reminded of one time I did this trip on the train. The second of two times on the train, the first going up the east coast, this time the trains took me up the west coast. 

On my return leg I was gazing out of the window admiring the rolling hills somewhere between Glasgow and Carlisle. I noticed the distant snow tipped mountains, the babbling stream running alongside the rail lines, and the farmed animals, both sheep and cows. Then I noticed a man standing at the back of a 4x4 type vehicle.

As we clattered closer I surprised myself with the thought that it looked like he had no clothes on! Passing by about 30m from where he was parked, I can confirm that indeed he had nothing on but a pair of trainers, and stood facing the passing train. Don't let your mind think about that too much. I looked around the carriage, but no one else seemed to have seen the spectacle.

Today, on the radio the DJ gave reference to the Mayor of Louth, who had dressed up as a local food product for when the Olympic Torch passed through her town a few days ago. Her Lincolnshire Sausage outfit caused consternation with the town folk, as some thought the padded foam garb resembled a body part more than a sausage!

While both stories are linked to nudity, or a perception of naked awareness, I hope you will "bare" with me. (I only realised the pun as I typed it). 

God created Adam and Eve, and they were naked. It was only their actions that broadened their perceptions, and they realised they were naked. Nothing wrong with that. It is how God made them. What happened was, the way they saw things changed. Selfishness. Personal gain. A disdain for the other person. Shame of doing wrong. Blame of someone else. All led to a cover up. Literally. It is sin, turning away from God, that produces perversion.

God made us to be in His presence. As there is no perversion in the presence of God, we are stuck. How do we shed our perversion, our sinfulness, mask over our wrongs? Trying to do it ourselves is another mistake. We don't. We can't. God does. He has!

Isaiah 61:10 (NIV)
I delight greatly in the Lord;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Until Jesus returns and makes all things new, we will always have a sliding scale of what is modest, and what is not. It is because others struggle that we should be careful not to provide distractions for them. 

My pondering is not about how we see each other, or ourselves. It is about how God sees us. He offers to see us the way He made us. He sees us as covered up, not exposed. Therefore we don't need to hide from God. He forgives. He covers. He wants to dress us up like a spouse, because He adores us, and wants to be with us. Stop hiding. God sees you as a beautiful spouse.

-Pr Nathan Stickland