The writer of Hebrews explained brutal honesty perfectly when he said, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before His eyes, and He is the one to whom we are accountable.” Hebrews‬ ‭4‬:‭13‬ ‭NLT‬‬. When we are brutally honest with ourselves we are stripped bare: naked and exposed. It is uncomfortable, embarrassing, traumatizing, shameful. But isn’t that what God had in mind when He created mankind? Before the fall, Adam and Eve were naked and unashamed as they stood before God. But when they chose to disobey God, the first thing they experienced was shame, “At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.” Genesis 3:7. When God came looking for them, they didn’t stand before God, they hid from God. They were trying to hide their sin and shame by sowing fig leaves together, which was woefully insufficient. They couldn’t do anything in their own power to cover their sin, so they tried to hide (it). But God… He did something amazing; He lovingly brought them out of hiding, and shed blood to make a covering for their

Philippians 2:3-5 “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.” A number of years ago Joyce and I went to Brazil to visit her sister, Rebecca, and her husband, John Hawkins. They were missionaries in Manaus. In planning our trip we collected things that we thought we could give to the men and women of their church from the United States as gifts. One day I traveled with my brother-in-law, John, to see the progress on the work that was being done on the church he was building. John hired the men in his church and also the neighbors to build it. Not only would this provide income for these people, but John wanted them to understand it was their church.  When we got to the church we greeted the men and ladies and watched as the men were pouring pails of wet cement into molds for support beams. One of the young fellows stood out because he was a tall man they called Bruno. He