CLOTHES FOR THE NAKED

“Yer naked.”
The man pointed an accusing finger at the woman in front of him.
“Speak for yerself,” she replied, her mouth twisted in contempt.
Mesmerized, they stared at one another.
Suddenly something akin to an electric shock passed through their naked bodies, leaving them weak. They both began to shake uncontrollably.
There were no words in their vocabulary to express what they were feeling. Vulnerable, ashamed and yes, totally naked. Something was missing.
Their eyes met and both recognized in the eyes of the other something they were unable to explain.
Fear. Shame. We have the appropriate vocabulary. They didn’t.
Lost. Destitute.
Destitute of the Glory of God, those beautiful clothes God had dressed them in, were gone.
Up till that moment, they had seen one another covered with the Glory of God. They had never seen nakedness.
In a futile intent to cover themselves, they grabbed some leaves. Fig leaves. It wasn’t a sensible choice as they were soon to discover. Although the size was in their favour the texture certainly wasn’t. The rough prickly surface was extremely uncomfortable.
The woman screwed up her face in pain and her eyes filled with tears.

*** *** ***

Is there hope for the human race, which since that tragic day has been born spiritually naked and destitute of the Glory of God?

Are there clothes to cover that nakedness?
Is possible, that we could leave off seeing the nakedness of our fellow men and begin to see one another in the light of the Glory of God?

*** *** ***

Come with me and listen to a conversation between a son and his father. 

…Father, just as you are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me …
This conversation between the Son Jesus and His Father, God, gives answers to the questions we have just asked. We can get back the clothing which Adam and Eve wore ─ the Glory of God!
If I am clothed with the Glory of God, I will not see the nakedness of my brother. I will see him in the light of the Glory of God; I will see him dressed with the Glory of God.

*** *** ***

“Not again. I just can’t believe it.”

Dazed, the woman puts her mobile phone on the table and flops into the armchair. Certain scenes from a film start running through her head, the earlier ones equally clear as the more recent.
She sees as if it were yesterday, her husband in the pulpit in front of a large congregation. Everyone is clapping.
She hears the youth group shouting with approval when he is named their leader, but somehow today the congratulations sound hollow and mocking; the applause reverberates like stones hitting against a wall.
She sees the country folk from a farming community begging him to teach them from the Bible. Someone shouts, “We will study the Bible as long as Orlando is our teacher”.
She hears the giggles from the girls sitting on the front row of the church building. They don’t miss a service. Orlando is their hero.
Then she remembers when he began to counsel a certain young lady. She sought him out, she continually phoned him, she pressured him, and … she seduced him.
The woman shudders as she relives those moments of betrayal. She clenches her fists in anger.
“Good for nothing minx”
She frowns and wonders whether her husband has really repented. She asks herself a question. Has the effort she made to walk alongside him in the thorny restoration process been worth it?
For a long time she sits and thinks about what she learnt during the whole sordid situation.
Her mobile phone ring-tone startles her. She listens as another woman spews out the latest gossip. Again. Deep inside she knows it isn’t gossip. It’s adultery. Again.

*** *** ***

Kneeling by the old armchair the broken young woman asks herself over and over again how she should react. She begins to pray. 

Hours pass. When she rises from her knees she knows what she must do, how she should react. She takes a crumpled, stained sheet of paper from her bedside table and begins to read aloud.
THANK YOU LORD FOR GIVING ORLANDO THE RIGHT TO BE YOUR CHILD. I CONFESS THAT HE IS A CHILD OF GOD BECAUSE HE HAS RECEIVED YOU AND HAS BELIEVED IN YOUR NAME. (John 1:12)
LORD, ORLANDO’S BODY IS YOUR TEMPLE BECAUSE THE HOLY SPIRIT LIVES IN HIM. YOU BOUGHT HIM WITH THE HIGHEST PRICE IN THE UNIVERSE ─ YOUR PRECIOUS BLOOD. TEACH HIM TO HONOUR YOU WITH HIS BODY. (1 Cor 8:19, 20)
The young wife takes a deep breath in an effort to fight off the thoughts that pour into her mind. Undesirable scenes dance in front of her eyes but she decides to believe who her husband is, in Christ. She carries on reading.
THANK YOU LORD FOR RESCUING ORLANDO FROM THE DOMINION OF DARKNESS. I DECLARE THAT SATAN HAS NO POWER OVER HIM. HE BELONGS TO THE KINGDOM OF JESUS CHRIST FOR EVER. (Col 1:13)
THANK YOU LORD THAT YOU CAME TO DESTROY THE WORKS OF THE DEVIL. I PROCLAIM THAT ALL THE WORKS OF THE DEVIL IN ORLANDO’S LIFE ARE DESTROYED. (1 John 3:18)
THANK YOU LORD THAT YOU CHOSE ORLANDO BEFORE THE CREATION OF THE WORLD TO BE HOLY AND BLAMELESS IN YOUR SIGHT.THANK YOU THAT IT IS YOUR BLOOD THAT MAKES HIM HOLY. I DECLARE THAT ORLANDO IS HOLY. (Ephesians 1:4)

Holy? He’s holy after what he done?

The words shout in her mind. She gasps as she recognizes the source: it is human truth trying to assert itself against God’s truth. She shouts back.
“In Christ Orland is holy. I believe what God says about him. The blood of Jesus makes him holy!”
She shudders at her own audacity. Beads of cold sweat appear on her forehead. She reaches for a paper handkerchief, wipes her face and then with an effort, returns to the sheet of paper. 

THANK YOU GOD FOR FORGIVING ALL ORLANDO’S SINS AND FOR CANCELLING THE WRITTEN CODE THAT WAS AGAINST HIM (Col 2:13, 14). YOU HAVE JUSTIFIED HIM AND THERE IS NOBODY WHO CAN CONDEMN HIM (Romans 8: 33).
LORD I DECLARE THAT ORLANDO HAS BEEN GIVEN THE VICTORY THROUGH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST (1 Cor 15. 57). HE IS MORE THAN A CONQUEROR! (Romans 8:37).

*** *** ***

Every morning before daybreak, this valiant woman wakes up to declare God’s truth about the man sleeping at her side. She doesn’t deny human truth; she simply decides that it will not distract her from her decision to believe who her husband is in Christ. She decides to clothe him with the Glory of God in order not to look at his nakedness. She sees him dressed with the Glory of God. She sees him in Christ.
The days go by. As she prepares the meals in her kitchen, this determined woman wields her powerful spiritual weapons. Over and over again she repeats who her husband is in Christ:
Orlando is redeemed: He is justified, washed in the blood of the Lord Jesus, Orlando is sanctified; he is a new creature in Christ. He is complete in Christ. Orlando has the mind of Christ. I decide to believe who he is in Christ.

*** *** ***

You ask: And how did it all end?
This is a true story.
The day came when Orlando confessed his sin and was restored, simply because his wife decided to put on one side the weapons of the flesh ─ her anger, her disappointment, her desire for vengeance, even her emotional pain. She chose to cover his nakedness and see her husband in Christ. She chose the best covering ─ she clothed him with Christ.