Genesis 3:7, Naked…fig leaves. Guilt and shame. Guilt and shame are different. Guilt is a result of sin and brings conviction of sin leading to confession, forgiveness and cleansing from sin.

Shame, on the other hand, drives us to hide and tells us that we can’t truly be forgiven—that we need to hide. We have to hide behind something. Usually it’s a religious mask to make people think we’re different than we really are—to hide our true identity, who we really are. Adam and Eve used fig leaves. There was no church to hide in where they could play childish religious games of pretend.

Religious people are especially adept at play-acting with masks. This is often fueled by a sincere but misguided desire to please Elohim and others. In reality, we’re hiding our guilt, shame, scars, imperfections, hurts and sins without dealing with them.

The reality is that the shame and condemnation of sin doesn’t lift until one confesses sin and trusts Elohim to forgive them and then let him provide them with his own sin-covering. Elohim covered Adam and Eve in skins—probably a sheep skin, which was a picture of Yeshua—YHVH’s Lamb—dying for them at the cross.

Likewise, our sin must be covered in the atoning blood of Yeshua. Wearing masks instead of dealing with sin causes us to become smug, self-sufficient, dishonest, self-righteous and arrogant. This was the spiritual state of the Laodiceans.