I almost instinctively answered my phone, and if I had, it would’ve been very, very bad. No, worse than bad.
I’d literally just stepped out of the shower when I heard my phone ringing on the bathroom counter. I mindlessly reached for it and was poised to answer when I noticed something was off. Instead of seeing a normal iPhone screen, I was seeing myself in all my scary, buck nekkid glory, on my phone.
Thank the Lord some gear engaged in my brain and caused me to pause long enough to realize this was actually a Facetime video call. If I’d answered it, a dear friend from Brazil would have indeed been traumatized.
The caller was a former exchange student we’d hosted years ago who is still very much like family to us. I’d hate to think of the hours of counseling he might have needed if I’d accidentally answered my phone. I get a little queasy just thinking about it. The only person I might wish that trauma on would be one of the zillions of telemarketers who’ve been bombing my phone lately. Would absolutely serve them right.
This “near miss” reminded me just how terrifying the prospect of being “overly exposed”—physically, emotionally or spiritually—is for most of us.
Like all of our fears and woes, we can trace this one back to Adam and Eve’s sin against God in the Garden of Eden. What were two of the first things they did after eating the forbidden fruit? After suddenly realizing they were naked, they covered up with fig leaves and then futilely tried to hide from God (Genesis 3:7-8).
We’ve been covering up and hiding ever since.
I confess I’ve been in small-group settings when leaders have asked questions that made me want to crawl under my chair or sprint for the door. Something like, “We’re going to go around the circle now and I want you to share with us the worst sin you’ve ever committed.” (Okay, maybe not that bad, but you get the idea.)
If the first person in the group sets the bar low and says something innocuous like, “One time I saw a piece of litter on the sidewalk and didn’t pick it up,” everyone else mentally scampers to come up with something to share that’s less awful, embarrassing and truthful than that worst sin they were just about to confess out loud.
Publicly airing all our dirty laundry isn’t appropriate or commanded in the Bible, but this is: “Therefore, confess your sins to one another …” (James 5:16). Interestingly, that James passage goes on to say “… and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.”
Obedience to God and repentance when we disobey are essential biblical mandates, but so are forgiveness, grace, healing, and restoration. Practicing and communicating those in a balanced way is challenging, but it should be our goal as individual followers of Christ and churches. Jesus did it and we must, too, to represent Him well in this world.
Humbly “coming clean” to a trusted, gracious soul can be healing and freeing, as we are unchained from the lie that we have to be perfect in order to be loved. Don’t answer that “Facetime call” for just anyone, but if you’ve been hiding and covering up secrets that are gnawing away at your soul, maybe it’s time to bring them into the light.
“If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” – 1 John 1:6-7