I’m not going to prove it to you, but you can trust me when I say that I look a lot better with my clothes on than I do naked.
Not only do my clothes hide my flaws, but they also project an image I want you to see, and if I wear my fur coat and carry my Louis Vuitton handbag, you might even think I’ve got money to burn.
It’s laughable, but I remember once sitting at a traffic light in my big Mercedes with Ross Perot, the billionaire and former Chairman of General Motors, in his Chevrolet next to me. I was on my way to church, and he, with his ears sticking out of a fishing hat, appeared to be on his way to his yacht for a leisurely day on the lake.
I was thirty days from bankruptcy.
It was about that same time in my life that I interrupted a meeting to ask a couple, dressed in ratty clothes, if it was their car, a very old Buick, parked in front of the office. It was, and I asked them to move it.
I returned to my class of salespeople, most of them thirty days from bankruptcy and driving expensive cars, and reminded them to not let the maids, vendors, and suppliers, take the spot next to the door, but to save it for customers.
Later that day, I learned the man with a threadbare tee-shirt and the woman with no make-up and unkempt hair were not vendors, but customers and heirs to a huge fortune, of which you would easily know.
Perception is not reality.
If you follow Jesus long enough, he will help you to see that what is projected on the outside of your body has nothing to do with who you are.
It is a façade, a cover, a counterfeit, and an illusion. For who you really are, is immaterial, and no one, apart from God, knows you. You might argue that you know yourself because you know your thoughts, feelings, and what you do in secret, but the Lord said you don’t because the immaterial part of yourself deceives you.
When God is ready, he will change your circumstances so that you can see how little you know yourself.
He might bring bounty to show your selfishness and self-importance or he might bring poverty to show your arrogance.
He might place you in a position of power to show your fear, or place you in a position of utter dependence to show your vulnerability.
He might bring everything your heart desires to show your depravity or a thirst that cannot be quenched to show your helplessness.
You see, God knows you and he loves you.
He also knows that his love for you is meaningless, except maybe for that ticket to heaven you got the day you professed your belief in Jesus.
Or when he’s playing Santa Claus.
He knows that you cannot know yourself until his love for you has meaning in spite of your circumstances.
His love for you will have meaning only after you see the naked truth about yourself.
The naked truth is never a pretty sight and I cannot deny it takes courage to stand undressed before anyone, for we fear shame, humiliation, rejection, and judgment.
But, when you are ready, God will open your eyes to see that the only way he sees you is naked, without the façade, and even with the hidden motives behind your goodness.
And because he loves you anyway and in spite of your flaws, you will be brokenhearted for now his love has meaning. This truth will set you free to be who you really are.
The challenge, of course, is trying to stay free.
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32
1 John 1:8,Jeremiah 49:16,Galatians 6:3,Proverbs 30:12,Luke 22:33-34,Psalm 36:1-4, Jeremiah 17:9-10
As always, it is my intent and hope that my words may encourage you wherever you are in your journey.
If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.–Jesus (Mark 4:23)
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