Day 3 Breakfast on the Beach…Jekyll Island, GA
Have you ever meditated on a passage of Scripture you’ve read dozens of times before when something “new” jumps out at you?
I love Simon Peter—what a maniac! Before today I’d never noticed this disciple fished naked. Read it yourself. John 21:7 says Simon Peter was out in a boat hauling in a massive catch after someone on the shore directed him to throw his net to the other side. When Peter realized it was resurrected Jesus on the shore, he grabbed his coat and wrapped it around him “for he had stripped”…Now there’s a spirit of adventure!
What keeps us from “fishing naked”? Rather than expose our true selves we seek to clothe our frail humanity in the trappings of life. We cover ourselves & impute style to our beings via our job, rank/position, bank account, education, intellect, possessions, sports, fitness, personality, fun fixes and yes, even our ministries and self-righteousness. Or we hide behind fig-leaf remedies of weed, pills, alcohol & inhalants. Do we truly believe any of these things can alter who we are at any given moment?
I ache to live my life with a Simon Peter kind of abandon…no, not streaking in public, at least not in the physical sense. But I imagine how different life might be if I braved completely baring myself heart & soul, stripping down, concealing nothing. How much more could God teach me, show me if everyday I willingly bare myself to Him? How much more could he use me in His Kingdom to bless others were I more transparent & stripped down before them?
Acknowledging nakedness—what we are not and what we do not possess—is the first step toward receiving God’s covering. Through the blood of Jesus Christ we are clothed in righteousness.
Lord, strip away all the funeral garb shrouding my heart, all that conceals me from the truth of my real self–just as you crafted me, all which robs me of vulnerability. Clothe me in You alone so that all that is seen of me is Jesus.
Livin4Jesus 