A Naked Soul

8.1.2011

John 3:20-21 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.” NIV

God knows it all anyway. The insanity of hating the light is: God knows it all anyway – why run; why try to hide? And yet, millions scheme and dream of the overthrow of God to live in what they consider to be the freedom to live as they see fit. As a result, they hate whatever casts a light on what they do and how they believe. Criminals rarely boast of their activities. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he does has been done through God; no secrets here.

Such are the people on the earth – only two categories of souls: those who are pale and afraid, and those who are bold and bright; those who hate the light and those who love it; those who fear it, and those who embrace it. The magnitude of our fall is manifest in revealing who is who. And the only antidote is the light. As children of God we must learn to hate the evil that pulls us from the light.

The irony of all this is who’s naked and who isn’t. The lover of the light, the doer of God’s good, is naked in that he freely shows himself to be doing what he does because of God. The doer of evil is clothed in darkness so that who he really is may not be seen by everybody else. And yet when all is said and done, the naked one is clothed in God and the clothed one is exposed in shame and humiliation to be other than what he claimed to be all along. The one who fears God cares nothing about nakedness; the one who hates God fears being exposed; that ought to tell us something.

There is a certain safety in nakedness: what you see is what you get. Conversely, there is a terrifying danger in the one who wants to hide what he does and what he really thinks.

When I read this today I realized whenever I flounder, flop, and flail around in selfish sin, I show in reality, I’m having a moment of hating the light; I’m running for the cover of darkness so that others may not see. But as I strive to stay in the light – in my nakedness – I’m allowing others to see the present of God in me and living my life accordingly. I need the light to shine on me, and in me always, that what you see is what you get: just a naked soul caught up in the love and light of God.