Necked as a Jaybird -- It's Southern for...

I have to admit there are some verses that I can’t wait to blog about. One was about Eve talking to the serpent because you have to admit that is some pretty creative and funny stuff, but this next one, I’ve been dying to get to for several weeks now because it involves clothes! I love clothes. I have some favorite shops and favorite magazines that I order my clothes from. I like the tailor-fitted, classic style clothes. Fits my personality. I love seeing the outfits that are put together on Pinterest. It puts the top, the bottom, the shoes, the handbag, and the accessories all together. I love watching the red carpet events to see what everyone is wearing, and I’m surprised at what some people call fashion. I haven’t always been this way though.


Growing up, I was a lot like my niece who sheds her clothes when she enters the door to her house. I hated clothes, especially when I was hot. I remember saying on more than one occasion as a child that when I grew up I was going to be a nudist. HAHAHAHA! That’s probably why God gave me such fair skin to prevent that from happening.

When Lori and I were growing up, we were long and stringy and poor. My mom made a lot of our clothes. When we got blue jeans, mom would go to the boys’ section to buy them because the girls’ jeans wouldn’t stay up. My daddy used to tell people that if I would stick out my tongue I’d look like a zipper!

But now, clothes fit, and I enjoy them. When I started working for the Farm, I asked my mom to tailor-make me some dress suits. I love well-fitting clothes. Sometimes I miss dressing up to go to work, but I DO NOT miss wearing pantyhose…at all.

So are you wondering what verse I could possibly be reading and thinking about? Genesis 3:21. Eve got to wear the first, one-of-a-kind, tailor-made, original design made by God. I wonder what it looked like. Was it a one-shoulder dress or more of a tunic?

You know what just hit me? Adam and Even knew they were naked, and instead of immediately covering them, God made them stand there necked as a jaybird (that’s Southern for not having a stitch of clothing on) – I mean technically they had on some fig leaves, but how much does that really cover? (One day, I’m going to try my hand at putting some fig leaves together just for grins…should be something because I don’t even sew fabric.)

OH MY WORD! We hide so much behind our clothes…have you ever thought of that? A multitude of sins…gluttony, self-mutilation, self-loathing, insecurities. They had nothing standing between them and their sin. They were standing in their sin quite visibly. Their sin was out there in front of God -- and I was about to say everybody, but they were everybody. You realize you need redeeming the most when you are standing defenseless, caught in your sin.

So, “the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them” (Gen 3:21 NIV). The first shedding of blood for sin. God killed an animal, shed the blood of an innocent animal, to cover the sin of man. They wore their redemption where they had to see it every day. It was tangible. It was physical.

What would it look like if we physically put on our redemption every day? What if we needed redeeming from the words we said, and we had to wear poster boards with the toxic words we had said the day before? What if we had to wear a billboard with the wicked thoughts we had the hour before? You can’t help come face-to-face with your sin when you have to put it on as part of the sentence for the crime, can you?

But God saw this as an act of love. He was providing for His children. He was preparing them for the world out there…the world outside of Eden…a world without that daily time walking with Him in the garden. He clothed them and wrapped them in His love, in His act of service.

The question today is, “Do you see God’s redemption in your life?” Do you see His redemption as an act of love? Do you see his discipline as an act of love? Or do you see it just as punishment?

Clothe yourself in the armor of God. Clothe yourself in dignity. Wrap yourself up in the arms of your Father.