Naked but not ashamed

Genesis 2
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
King James Version

There are several steps to getting off to a good start in marriage and these steps are given in our key verses today.
Here they are:

leave your father and mother

be joined to your spouse

becoming one flesh

the husband and wife are both naked

they are not ashamed.

Many people think of “becoming one flesh” and being naked as terms describing sexual relations: the consummation of the marriage. These expressions do refer to the consummation of the marriage but they mean much more than that.

To be naked in this sense means the ability to share our hearts with each other freely.
It means I am free within the marriage to be who I am without fear.
Further, it means that when one party shares what’s in their heart, the other party does not stomp all over the heart and make the one who spoke, ashamed.

When each spouse feels free to express their thoughts without the threat of shame, then the couple has truly become “naked, and not ashamed".

If one or both parties in the marriage is uncomfortable sharing their heart, because they are afraid of being ridiculed and made to feel like a fool, then the sex life will soon become a burden and a chore, instead of being the joyful expression God meant it to be.

Arguments and disagreements are inevitable in marriage, because two different people are putting their lives together. But HOW you argue and disagree is what really matters. The manner in which you do this will determine how happy or unhappy your marriage will be.

Therefore, you need to find out before the wedding, whether you are able to talk seriously with each other, and share your hearts with each other, without the fear of ridicule and shame in each others presence.
This, not sex, needs to be discovered before the wedding.

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Prayer:
Father, help us to get our priorities right as we approach the wedding day.
Help us to learn how to share our hearts with each other in a way that heals and protects our partner, so that our marriage will be a series of happy years spent with each other,
in Jesus’ name,
Amen.

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NKJV means New King James Version: Thomas Nelson Publishers
LB refers to The Living Bible: Tyndale House Publishers

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