get naked...

Now that most of you are already feeling awkward, you're probably wondering where am I going to go with this entry...good question! Blame Chuck Swindoll for this train of thought!
The subject of nakedness tends to make people uncomfortable and seemingly embarassed. Understandably so...our exposure and upbringing have heaps to do with this fact. Born and raised in a dutch culture, we didn't get around to talking about the "personal" stuff much...if at all! Confine your life with all it's complexities to composed silence...flawed philosophy.
This mentality, although great in the appearance spectrum of life, often tends to leave people with confusion, shame, anxieties and fears. These can be roadblocks to being an intimate person. Intimacy, in its truest form, stands unashamed, as is...completely vulnerable, sacrificial, honest, and open to trust and surrendering the deepest darkest corner to another. Challenging...
I have this problem (amongst many!) that causes me to start isolating my heart as soon as someone gets "close". There is no way I'm going to get vulnerable...let them see me as I truly am...naked. There's too much at risk. Too much to hide. Too much that the passing eye doesn't see.
And yet, this is the kind of relationship that God desires to have with us. One without shame (for He has removed ALL our shame on the cross), one of honesty (for he knows our very thoughts and formed our inmost beings, and is well aware of the desire of our hearts), one of sacrificial exposure - believing that He will protect and keep our hearts. He desires time alone with us. He wants to see us naked, so to speak...without pretenses, without our efforts to appear beautiful before Him, as we are. He wants us to trust Him with our vulnerability. He wants to love us without the isolating walls. And yet this intimacy comes at a cost to His beloved.
I will be the first to admit to having tried to hide from God - very similiar to Adam and Eve in the garden. I'll look pretty on the outside, and pretend you can't see what's happening on the in - all the while patching together a covering of leaves that only makes me look even more ridiculous! Recently God has been challenging me on being real...exposed real. Scary concept. It involves risk...something I am not skilled at by any stretch of the personal imagination. But when you take that first step...it's hard to turn back.
What is keeping you from getting intimate with God? What risks are you willing to take to get closer to Him? What will it take for you to come naked before Him?...