Fully Devoted: CreationSample

They Felt No Shame

This part of the biblical story ends with a beautiful picture of what the world was like before the Fall, and also serves as an ominous foreshadowing of the paradise that would soon be lost. 

At the end of Genesis 2, we’re told: 

Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. Genesis 2:25 NIV

For most of us, imagining a world where we don’t feel shame sounds like a fairy tale. Most of us can easily find something to be ashamed of. Sometimes that shame is laid on us by others, and sometimes we lay it on ourselves. 

Regardless, when we feel shame, our response is to hide and cover up the thing that we’re ashamed of. And in our attempts to cover the part of us that causes shame, we create a barrier between ourselves and others—including God.

The power of this verse is that the first humans were able to be completely honest and authentic with God and each other.  This is the way things were always supposed to be. There was no place for shame in God’s good world. 

In the beginning, human beings were completely vulnerable and they felt no shame. Their relationships with one another and with God were defined by love instead of fear. Grace instead of shame. Trust instead of suspicion. Honesty instead of deception. Vulnerability instead of insecurity. 

And while that way of living was lost in the Fall, it’s been reclaimed by Jesus. 

Isaiah spoke about this when he prophesied about the coming year of the Lord’s favor. He declared that there would come a day when God’s Messiah would arrive:

... to proclaim good news to the poor ... to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners ... Isaiah 61:1 NIV 

And a few verses later, Isaiah wrote this: 

Instead of your shame you will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace you will rejoice in your inheritance. And so you will inherit a double portion in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours. Isaiah 61:7 NIV 

Isaiah was looking forward to the day when the Messiah, the Chosen One of God, would arrive and begin setting things right. He was looking forward to the day when Jesus would arrive and rescue humanity from sin, freeing them from shame. 

It was Isaiah 61 that Jesus read from when He announced His mission in Luke’s Gospel. From the very beginning, God’s plan has always been to reverse the damage of the Fall and restore His good creation. As students of Jesus, we have been freed from sin and called to help others discover the freedom that is available in Him. 

Journaling Questions 

• Shame was never something we were meant to experience. Do you remember the first time you felt a sense of shame?
• What’s one way you could join in Jesus’ mission to help undo the damage of sin by removing a barrier in your community?
• What is an insecurity you could choose to be vulnerable about and discuss with your community?

Memory Verse

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10 NIV