THEN THE FIG LEAVES FELL

Let me begin this article with a prayer, then explain the meaning behind it;

“Father, blow off the fig leaves of a self-righteous world, secular and religious, and reveal the nakedness of them all.”

We all know the story of the fall of Adam & Eve, so with that understanding in your mind, we also know that to hide their nakedness they sewed fig leaves together to hide this “feeling” of nakedness.  I got this thought this morning, “The Power of fig leaves.” (expressed in sarcasm).  As I reflected on this, what was a single thought became sentences and the following paragraphs. 

“When the winds blow” – the winds of truth will BLOW OFF THE FIG LEAVES we all have created.  Once this occurs, the questions to be asked, “What’s underneath these fig leaves; why were they sewed in the first place; what does it mean in scriptures, “Naked I came into this world, naked I will leave;” what was the FEELING that Adam & Eve felt that cause them to sew fig leave?”

We all have heard answers to these questions I am sure; but do we really know and understand the secular and religious answers that we claim?  We have heard of those who, “Going about establishing their righteousness, have forfeited the righteousness of Christ.”  Do you really understand this matter of “His righteousness?”  If you claim that you do, then ask yourself, “Why are you yielding to the secular and religious ideas of righteous (behavior) to appease your feeling of nakedness before God? 

Let’s look at this from this illustration;

“You live in a world of those who have sewed fig leaves as clothes.  Now you, at first, haven’t done this, and dare, at first, to bear your nakedness for all to see. (The honesty of youth).  They cause you to “feel” naked, ashamed, because you haven’t joined them in their “cover-up.”  You given in and start sewing “leaves” that fit you particular race, culture and creeds; as long as you do this, you fit in.  After a period of time, the “Winds of Truth” keep blowing off your leaves and need to be replaced with new leaves.  At times they change in their color and shape, but still are leaves, still are a cover-up of the truth of your nakedness. (The changing of peers).

Then one day, “The Spirit of Truth” reveals to you that in spite of your efforts, you still are naked.  This same Spirit reveals to you that it wasn’t a matter of any particular race, culture or creed, color or shape of the leaves, there was only one way to set you free.”  This Spirit of TRUTH reveals to you that the honest confession of your nakedness was the only way that would lead you to true freedom.  You get a disgruntle reaction of those in you race, culture and creed, you do that which is forbidden of them, you allow your nakedness to be revealed.  They can only see, at first, that you are naked; but the Spirit of Truth doesn’t leave you (pun intended – call it the “de-leafing,” or undoing of what had been done to you)…the Spirit of Truth doesn’t leave, de-leaf you, without first covering your nakedness, with the Righteousness of another, Jesus Christ our Lord.  At first, this True Righteousness can’t be seen by those around you; their leaves blind them to a greater truth.  Over time, this INWARD RIGHTEOUSNESS is worked out, and you learn to put-on, the very image and nature, of what you are inside, and thus no longer need the self efforts you once were taught.”

What are the leaves that hide the truth?   With what I am about to share with you, do not push this to the extreme as some have thought to do, so they can keep their self-righteous leaves.  So, what are these leaves?  Dependent upon your choice of peers, here is a list;

1.       Non-smoking, or smoking

2.      Non-drinking, or drinking

3.      Not eating certain foods

4.      Not going to certain places

5.      Not associating with certain people

6.      Going to a certain denomination/church attendance

7.      Making it a matter of a certain religious performance, Pentecostal/Baptist, Jewish, etc.

8.      Articulating words to appear righteous – use of Greek and Hebrew

9.      Increase of knowledge, secular or religious

10.  Looking a certain way – example, beards for men, long hair, short hair for women debate, and dresses verse pants etc.

11.  Boasting of years into religious studies – forever learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth of your nakedness.

12.  Boasting of so-called gifts – those comparing themselves by themselves aren’t wise!

This list could go on and on; it all could be, and most of the time is, nothing more than “leaves” sown to hide the truth of one feeling naked.  This “feeling” is linked with quilt, and the matter of guilt is beyond just guilt feelings, but is what’s called “True Moral Guilt.”  A feeling of guilt that never leaves with the use of LEAVES; leaves come and fall, with the changing of the seasons, but what God has to offer covers this True Moral Guilt, a feel of being CUT OFF FROM your creator; your Father; a feeling that only an orphan could understand in the natural sense of its use.  I heard it once expressed this way, “I was an orphan with parents.”  Until we face this feeling, we will be forever seeking to relieve our sense of being cut off in this world, left as an orphan, even with natural parents attempting to fill in this void.  Only God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, could bring us to understand how God’s Son came to correct his feeling of nakedness by God, our Father, “SON PLACING US”, which is the spiritual definition of this term Adoption.  Our true Father, NEVER LEFT US ALONE, as we understand this word in the natural world; He loved us before the foundation of the world, and never desired that we feel forsaken, cut off from Him.   He established, as an ETERNAL FACT,  that assured us that His love would be UNCONDITIONAL, no matter what the circumstance would be that we would be born into.  He covered us coming to this world, and assured us of our deliverance and exit of this temporal experience, and back into His welcoming arms.  We have called it “the Reconciliation.”  It is nothing more than this ETERNAL FACT that I have, through the teachings of the Apostle Paul, that I have been offering to all that I have encountered in my journey through this life.  I have been told that this year will be the year of the Standing or falling, in this article we are seeing this matter of the Falling to be a good thing; “Some sins of men precede them, others follow.”  In other words,

….LET THE LEAVES FALL – THIS IS THE TIME, THE SEASON OF FALLING LEAVES…”