Naked or Covered

Last weekend, our visiting evangelist shared a story with pastor over dinner. This story became the basis for the message pastor shared during Matt's memorial service on Saturday.  Oh, yeah, I haven't shared that on here. I unexpectedly lost my husband, Matt, on September 19. But this writing is not about his passing, rather the lesson we can learn.

This story was that of a man named Truth. Truth was on his way back into town after he had been on a long journey. Walking down the long, dusty road, he found himself covered in dirt and had some dried patches of what had been mud where the dirt had dried in the sweat he was dripping from the heat of the day. He happened to come upon a crystal clear pond where he thought, "I'll take a quick dip in these waters and get cleaned up before I arrive. The water will be refreshing after the long walk in the heat." 

He quickly removed his garments and put them by the side of the pond on a rock and walked carefully into the coolness of the pond. As he dipped below the surface to ensure that even the dust from his hair was removed, some pranksters from town saw him and his clothes unattended. Hoping to stop him from moving forward or perhaps to bring embarrassment to him, these prankster grabbed all of the clothing and ran.  Still oblivious to what had happened, Truth continued to dip himself in the clean waters of that pond, refreshing the weariness of his body as he cleansed away all of the dirt and grime that had collected over the trip.

As Truth exited the waters, he looked everywhere for his clothes yet they were no where to be found. Now Truth had always been a devout man, keeping himself pure, Holy, and modest at all times. But in this moment, he had a choice to make. Will he stay there in that water and wait for someone to come along that may have something that would cover him or does he make a run for town doing his best to keep himself covered as he runs?

Now as pastor told the story, he spoke about the town folk exclaiming over naked Truth running into town. I was thinking on my way home today about all of this. Scripturally, if we go back to Genesis, we read that Adam and Eve were naked in the garden. It was not until they ate of the forbidden fruit that they even knew that they were not covered. It was the glory of God that had covered them until sin entered the picture.  

Truth is truth. It is the very basis of which the Bible is written. If we take and try to cover that in any other way, it becomes soiled and dirty just as Truth found himself walking down that road. We try to cleanse ourselves, being dunked in the waters of baptisim in the titles of Father, Son and Holy Spirit and we adorn ourselves with a denominal title. We put on Baptist Truth, Methodist Truth, Church of Christ, so on and so forth as we immerse ourselves into a new role.  The truth of the matter is, the only Truth there is is the naked Truth.

I would admonish anyone to strip away all of the excess. Take away the denominal teaching, the traditions handed down from generation to generation, open the Bible and let the Word speak to you.  Strip away everything you think you know and let the Holy Ghost reveal what the Word says.

Are you willing to walk your life in naked truth, trusting only in what is written in the Word of God? Or will you spend your life covered in the teachings and beliefs of what a denomination will tell you that you must believe? 


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