Naked And Not Ashamed

Genesis 1 vs25------------------------" The man and his wife were both naked  and they felt no shame."
I Samuel 18 vs1-4--------------------"Jonathan became one in spirit with David and loved him as himself.   vs 3--------And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.
vs4 ------Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David,along with his tunic and even his sword,his bow and his belt".

Soon after the covenant of marriage was made what further seals the covenant is what the bible calls nakedness ; which connotes much more than clothes, or a state of undress but rather  openness, sincerity, frankness  an ability to share  each other's  heart without fear of judgement ,criticisms. This state of emotional openness brings trust, confidence, and strengthens the bonds of love and intimacy. I call it  " stripped" arising from the story of Jonathan and David . Jonathan shared his spirit ,his soul and even his position, status, inheritance ,the authority and power that comes with his position ,Jonathan literally stood bare and naked before David ,his covenant brother and friend. In the realm of the spirit David had become Jonathan, heir apparent, soldier, man of stature, affluence ,; while Jonathan had become David poor shepherd boy with no status or authority. They had exchanged and shared everything by the covenant and by their subsequent actions.

It is note worthy that Jonathan did not wait for his death to share his life and all that he was,is and will be with David .In trouble and danger to their lives, to Jonathan losing his throne, to David loosing his life  they did not change their minds but rather in the midst of danger renewed their covenant with one another. They choose each other above their families, above their positions, and inheritances. Many years later after Jonathan's death the covenant was still speaking as David took Jonathan's son Mephibosheth to help him.       In their openness they covered each other's shame and weaknesses.

Men and brethren, this is what God expects of a man and his covenant wife, it is to this effect that our Lord Jesus who witnessed the first marriage in the garden, and showed forth His glory on earth first in a marriage and not a crusade, said this famous words " they are no longer two but one". It is openness and sincerity that breaks down the walls that exists between a man and his wife. Without it the differences between a man and his wife are enormous, and can cause frustrations and anger that often leads to divorce.   Even as parents come to accept the differences between their children so also spouses must learn to accept the differences between them. The differences are meant to add spice, excitement, to the marriage which is meant to be a discovery.    Marriage is a discovery adventure, with years of being together you are to discover and really get to know the person you have married.

Divorce throws a spanner in the works and cuts short the work of being one indeed that God wants to achieve in every marriage.  When you see a couple who have married for a very very long time, you notice they have become more than husband and wife, they are friends, brothers and sister, when one dies the other is definitely going in a few months or years. They do not last long.  In the wisdom of God ,marriage is to  be a lifelong adventure, of learning to be a better person as we learn patience, sacrifice, loving another more than yourself, you learn to be humble.  It is in marriage that you understand and experience the sermon on the mount.  In the first year of  marriage  I perceive The Lord saying to my heart as i prayed for my husband to know him better and become a better wife, friend, sister, partner, lover, and joint heirs of the grace of  life, that our marriage is more than a mere physical union. It begins the process but it is not an end in itself. So I began to pray John 17 the high priestly prayer of our Lord for the church over my marriage. I did this consistently for two years and saw encouraging results.

A careful reader of John 17 will discover that the prominent theme and burden on The Lord's heart is that the church His bride will be one with Him and the God head indeed, as we grow into the image, stature  and fullness of  Christ our lord who is the express image of the God head dwelling bodily.  That is why it is dangerous when we stop growing,or stop making progress in our walk with God.    Many in church have been so blinded by the dictates of our cultures, we have forgotten or chosen to ignore and neglect the dangers of divorce.  Divorce breaks the bonding process midway, experts are of the opinion that, this is why 60 percent of second marriages  fails and a whooping 70 percent of third marriages fail. When you break off one, the process of starting another bonding process that demands both spiritual,emotional and phyical input and efforts is a difficult one and not many make it.

A fearful trend which the church of Jesus Christ is not putting into consideration is this, multiple divorces and remarriage is increasing the spirit of some  sort of polygamy in the church, thus bringing reproach and abominations in the church.In 1corithians, paul tells us echoing the words of our Lord Jesus,when you divorce for other than marital unfaithfulness and  you remarry you are committing adultery and the one who marries the divorcee is also comitting adultery. secondly,as long as your wife or husband even though divorced is still alive, as far as God is concerned you are still bound together together by law. Divorce only breaks the law of men, not the law of God.The confusion is even worse when there are children involved. The blended family dream is not working even in the church.

To lesson the impact of all these, we have become great propagators of the message of Grace. It would have been great under different circumstances, but when we are using grace to cover our moral bankruptcy then there is a big problem. Grace ought to have given us the capacity to stay in our marriages and build a family that will glorify God instead it has a become a licence for our breaking our covenants.  Paul cried out in Romans 6,shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?. No he said for we are dead to sin.  In our marriages we have become the biggest abusers of grace. Paul calls it taken the grace of God in vain, knowing what is right to do but doing something else for selfish ambitions. Jude also cried out vehemently in jude 1 vs4 ''these are godless men/ women who change the grace of our God into a licence for immorality ---------''.In so doing we deny Jesus Christ our only sovereign and Lord.

Grace ought to give us capacity to love our spouses, dicipline to learn patience and persevere through crises and troubles, and faith for victory.  For 1John 5, tells us we have overcome the world------[-i dare to add divorce because it is of the world] and this is the victory that overcomes even our faith'.
Grace does not despise working hard at your marriage nor does it encurage blaming your spouse, paul said i worked the hardest with grace. Men and Brethren we do not need to loose hope, grace is truly able to give us victory in our marriages      It is openness and sincerity that will build intergrity and trust. Many of us have lost intergity and trust because our stories have changed over the years, but it is well, the good thing about nakedness is that in it is the spirit of forgiveness and grace. The God who ceated marriage is also the God of many chances. Fear not.
Adam and Eve were covered by the glory of God,after they sinned ,the blood of the Lamb provided covering, today the blood of the lamb of God that speaks better things is still in the business of covering waknesses and faults, as we open up to Him and our covenant spouses  so that we will not be ashamed.