The Ransomed Heart...Nakedness Indeed (revised)

8/18/06 from "The Ransomed Heart" by John Elderedge

"The deeper reason we fear our own glory is that once we let others see it, they will have seen the truest us, and that is nakedness indeed. We can repent of our sin. We can work on our "issues." But there is nothing to be "done" about our glory. It's so naked. It's just there - the truest us. It is an awkward thing to shimmer when everyone else around you is not, to walk in your glory with an unveiled face while everyone else is veiling his. For a woman to be truly feminine and beautiful is to invite suspicion, jealousy, misunderstanding. A friend confided in me, "When you walk into a room, every woman looks at you to see - are you prettier than they are? Are you a threat?"

And that is why living from your glory is the only loving thing to do. You cannot love another person from a false self. You cannot love another while you are still hiding. You cannot love another unless you offer her your heart. It takes courage to live from your heart. A friend said the other day, "I desperately want to be who I am. I don't want the glory that I marvel at in others anymore. I want to be that glory which God set in me."

Finally, our deepest fear of all. . .we will need to live from it. To admit we do have a new heart and a glory from God, to begin to let it be unveiled and embrace it as true--that means that next thing God will do is ask us to live from it. Come out of the boat. Take the throne. Be what He meant us to be. And that feels risky. . . really risky. But it is also exciting. It is coming fully alive. It's a risk worth taking."
__________________________________________________________________
I have been getting these daily devotionals from this ministry for a couple of weeks now and I am very moved by what I get each day. This particular one had a major impact because 1) I start teaching the "Captivating" Bible study in a couple of weeks and part of that talks so much about "not hiding, not striving, becoming naked and vulnerable" which brings so much freedom. 2) Because the Lord showed me a vision about this very topic earlier this year and this was confirmation of that. I never cease to be amazed at how God talks to us, reveals Himself to us, is always talking with us if we will just listen. He desires to "romance" us which is something you will see more about in the new book coming out in October by John Elderedge. Don't be afraid to let "your truest self" shine.