Do you know what it means to be transparent? “Transparency is so lacking today. You and I feel we can’t be honest. We have to protect ourselves, especially to hide any flaws we have. We feel we have to put on our marks to say ‘Everything’s OK and I’ve got it all together and I’m doing just great.’ But people aren’t doing just great. They aren’t OK and they don’t have it all together.
We hide. We fear we’ll become targets…marginalized, criticized, victimized.” Ruth Graham, Beliefnet.com
“Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.” Hebrews 4:13
We can hide from each other but we cannot hide from God. Transparency is being honest before God and therefore honest with each other. Then and only then can we grow together with God in righteousness. Double-minded people attempt to live two lives…one projecting the image they want you to see and the other…the real you!
Ask yourself…who am I… really?
1. Does your family ever see you lose your temper?
2. Do you complain about how others treat you?
3. Do you demand prompt attention from family members, friends, teachers, and employers?
4. Do you grumble when things do not work out the way you planned?
5. Do you feel slighted when others get more attention than you do?
6. Are you able to readily and quickly admit when you are wrong?
We can know our true identity when we “do not merely listen to the word and so deceive ourselves. What good is it, if a man (woman) claims to have faith but has no deeds. Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.” (Jas. 1-2)
Walking our talk defines us as women of faith with a true single-minded image. We are to “speak and act according as those who are going to be judged” (Jas. 2:12) and held responsible for a life well-lived with the blessing of being transparent or a life-wasted, living fearfully in the shadows.
The very thing that brings us to Him is the very thing that we fight the most!
Ø Transparency/humility
Ø Inconvenience
Ø Trials/pain/suffering
Ø Sacrifice/counting the cost
Ø Denial of self
Ø Total dependence on God
Ø Forsaking all
Some of us have seen these truths in the Word for years, but somehow concluded that they were not for us, they were concepts to unpopular to consider or they were too complicated for the age we live in. This call to be transparent had to be for someone else! So we surrender to the chill of our spiritual environment!
True Christianity is an all out commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. A total “walk your talk” life practice.
Acknowledging our human fallibility is our qualification to relinquish our failure and receive His empowerment to live without the fear that we will become targets…marginalized, criticized, victimized.
We are known by our fruit…
“…You are a letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody…”! II Cor. 3: 2-3
Do you think you can hide?
~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America. Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California. My passion is discipling and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights.
