Why can't we be transparent? Live in a glass house? What's so scary about that?
A pastor friend was telling me the other day that I give away too much of myself. That I should 'hold my cards closer' until I know people, otherwise I would get hurt.
Why can't we just live our lives so that there isn't anything to hide? Yeah, we make mistakes, but why can't we just own up to them? Be honest, move on, gain and give trust?
I'm not talking utopian here. Not at all. I'm talking personal sincerity and transparency. If you believe that who you are is the best you can be, then why not be proud of it? If you aren't proud of it, then become what you can be proud of.
God makes everything happen for a reason. Everything that was hard in our lives can be used to help someone else- but if we don't allow people to see who we are, then how are they to trust us, how are we to help them? Our pasts are to build on. To grow on, good or bad, God can use it all- if we let go of it.
When you build a wall, you aren't stronger- you're covering up a weakness. Hiding a weak spot from view won't make you stronger. It just hides it from your view and blocks that part of your heart from true life.
When you open up, you have the possibility of getting hurt. It's happened to me before, I've been called a whore for hanging with people who have that rep. Jesus hung with people- prostitutes and sharp dealers, to show them God's love. That doesn't make Him a prostitute. It made Him vulnerable in the world's eyes, but strong in God. Strong in spirit, heart and soul.
Yes, others may try to hurt me when I am open and honest. When you expose your heart it's open to puncture, but God is my armor. If I do what He asks, live as He asks, then He'll protect me or keep me through whatever happens.
That is my goal- to be vulnerable in the world's eyes, but truly strong. To be truly transparent so that God's love can shine through me wherever I go, doing whatever He asks me to do.
PS- that's one of the reasons I'm so smitten.... transparency, trust, God working through a person. It's a beautiful thing ;-) God-given
2 comments:
1 Corinthians 12:7-10
"7To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
This was read on Air1 this morning and pretty much sums up what I was thinking. To put down our walls and masks, (our weaknesses are still there with them,) and become vulnerable so that God can use and cover our weaknesses. Then every part of our life will be able to really live =)
Transparency :-)
The best reason NOT to be so "transparent" is that no one should take themselves so seriously. With so many years ahead to fall in line, why would you wish that upon yourself?
Nailing it home, worrying about your transparency in the first place simply becomes a wall and takes away from your ministry and/or your enjoyment of life. In Christ is security not only for your soul, but for how you are as a person. One who truly entrusts themselves to Christ is so secure with themselves that NO words or labels can actually affect them.
All of that starts in your prayer life.
Oh yeah, and such worries are just a waste of your time, i.e. no fun. =P
-AnonyMoose
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