No Shame in Purity

No Shame in Purity

“And they felt no shame”

 

The Garden of Eden

was a beautiful place.

But maybe the most beautiful thing

about it was its

Purity!

Purity and innocence…

 They are so refreshing.

God dwells in purity!

Psalms 24:3-4 NIV

“Who may ascend the hill of the LORD?

Who may stand in his holy place?

 He who has clean hands

and a pure heart.”

A mother once brought her young daughter to me

because her daughter had experimented in something

she should not even been aware of.

I asked the young girl how did you feel afterwards

and she said “bad.”

This little girl did not know what the Bible said about the matter.

Her mother never talked to her about the things

that this little girl was doing because

who would have thought that a girl this young

would be confronted with this type of thing.

As we talked about how it made her feel,

she realized that God had put a mechanism

in her to teach her right from wrong.

Shame

It is a gift from God.

 

Shame can make us aware of wrong

even if we don’t know

what God has to say about the matter.

It is a gift God has given to every person.

None of us like to feel ashamed.

When we feel ashamed,

we have choices.

We can ignore it

and try to get others to accept our behavior

by justifying it.

We can hide and keep our behavior a secret.

Or, we can seek God

on why we feel ashamed

and ask Him what we should do about it.

Shame is a very important part of our lives

and we should never use shame

in a wrong way to manipulate people.  

Shame has a very powerful impact

on our emotional and mental well being

and is a very wonderful tool

in the hands of God.

But a mishandling of shame

can have devastating effects.

In the Garden,

God created everything pure.

Where there is purity

there is no shame.

God wants you and I to enjoy the freedom

that comes from a pure mind and heart.

And He has given us shame

to keep us pure.

Scripture Reading

Genesis 2:18-25 NIV

18 The LORD God said,

"It is not good for the man to be alone.

I will make a helper suitable for him."

19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground

all the beasts of the field

and all the birds of the air.

He brought them to the man to see what he would name them;

and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.

20 So the man gave names to all the livestock,

the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.

But for Adam no suitable helper was found.

21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep;

and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs

and closed up the place with flesh.

22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib

he had taken out of the man,

and he brought her to the man.

23 The man said,

"This is now bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called 'woman,'

for she was taken out of man."

24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother

and be united to his wife,

and they will become one flesh.

25 The man and his wife were both naked,

and they felt no shame.