Mensa Otabil - Naked and Not Ashamed (09/29/2025)
We’re concluding our lessons from Genesis chapter 2 today, and we look at verse 25 of Genesis chapter 2. «And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.» Shame is a very compelling sensation; it’s a feeling that makes you feel small, diminished, and inferior before people, and sometimes before God. Each one of us has felt shame at one point in our lives when we felt inadequate, diminished, or disgraced. When that happens, people usually let their eyes down, their shoulders droop, and they feel defeated. Shame has to do with the sense that something is wrong with you, that something is not right in you, and that thing, which is not right, is exposed.
But for Adam and Eve, they had no sense of shame because they had no sense that anything was wrong with them; they felt whole before God and each other. Adam felt complete in himself, and he felt complete in herself, and there was no part of their being—spiritually, emotionally, or physically—that they felt was imperfect. This sense of confidence they had did not just come from themselves; it was given to them by God. God gave them a sense of confidence and wholeness to stand before God without blame and before each other without blame. Later on, that sense was revoked because of sin, and when sin comes in, shame also comes in. No wonder when you read the Psalms, you’ll find one of the prayers often prayed is that God will not let us come to shame. Each one of us wishes that God will not bring shame to our lives, and I pray that your life will not be a life of shame.
For that to happen, may God give you wholeness in your being. May you have completeness in your personality. May He touch your mind, may He touch your emotions, may He touch your feelings, and may He give you a sense of worthiness. So when you look at your body, you don’t feel less than somebody else’s. Perhaps for Adam and Eve, there was nobody to compare with, and so they didn’t feel diminished. But I think even if there had been people to compare with, they still felt whole because they trusted in God. Their sense of wholeness was first toward God, and then it was toward each other. When we enter into relationships with people, that is how God wants us to feel with each other: we must feel whole with each other and treat each other with wholeness or wholesomeness. Treat people well because you feel good about yourself.
Later on, when sin came in and they didn’t feel good about themselves, they started to hide from God. Even before God approached them, they felt unworthy. That is why Christ came into this world—to give us a sense of worthiness and righteousness before God. I pray that in your life, God will give you wholeness—wholeness with God and wholeness with the people you relate to. May the Lord cause you to have a sense of being that is not diminished but honorable before the Lord. Let us pray.
Say with me: Heavenly Father, I receive wholeness and righteousness from You. In Jesus' name, amen and amen. May the Lord make you whole and complete in every area of your life. Pastor Mensa Otabil, shalom, peace, and life to you.