Take Off The Fig Leaf

     GOD WILL NEVER GIVE YOU ANYTHING BEFORE YOU ARE READY TO RECEIVE IT!!!
GOD WILL NEVER GIVE YOU ANYTHING BEFORE YOU ARE READY TO RECEIVE IT!!
I am not just talking about physical things, but spiritual blessings as well.  He continues to amaze me with the things that He gives me when I listen to Him, not just with my ears but with my heart also.  You cannot truly know the things in your head until you know them in your heart.  God has opened my heart to some things about myself today that still have me in awe.
     We have all been hurt many times in our lives.  If we would allow God to open our eyes to all the things that hurt us, but we tried to shrug off, we would be amazed. Much of who we are, much of how we interact with the people in our lives, unfortunately, has been dictated, unknowingly, by our past hurts.  The people closest to us have the ability to hurt us most.  Subconsciously, we keep them the furthest away from who we really are. They can probably tell what your favorite color is, or your favorite food is.  They may be able to tell how you may react in various situations.  What they don't know, is why.  We live in a society that stresses survival of the fittest. You cannot divulge what makes you weak, what makes you vulnerable. It's easy to allow people who are not close to us to have glimpses of who we are.  They are not close enough to us to hurt us.  The people closest to us?  That's another story.  We do not sit down with a plan of how to hide things from them.  It comes naturally. Self preservation.  In hiding our hurts, the driving force behind much of our behavior, we deprive the people closest to us the opportunity to know us deeply.  They only get to know what we allow them to know and we leave them to piece together the rest based on their own perceptions.
  In the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the first thing they did was realize they were bare. The closest person to Adam was Eve.  The closest person to Eve was Adam. In effect, when they put on the fig leaf, they were hiding parts of themselves from each other.  The parts they felt were most vulnerable. Sound familiar? Then they even tried hiding from God.  They tried to hide their mistakes, their weaknesses, their vulnerabilities.  But God said come out from behind the fig leaves.  He made coverings for them.  In essence, He was saying to them; Confess your wrongs, confess your hurts, your weakness, your vulnerabilities.  Be transparent to Me.  Take off the fig leaf.  Let Me cover you with My righteousness.
     On the cross, Jesus was laid bare. There was nothing to hide his nakedness.  He was naked for all to see.  He took on all of our nakedness, all of our sins, all of those things hiding behind the fig leaf.  In return, He covers us with His blood of righteousness. We no longer have to hide.  No longer do we have to wear fig leaves.  He wants us to see that it is okay to be naked.  It is okay to be transparent. Allow the people closest to you to see the person behind the fig leaf. Allow God to see the person behind the fig leaf. It is only then, the He can truly cover you with His righteousness.