'TRANSPARENCY'

If you are afraid to be absolutely brutally honest about yourself, this quote from Jesus will not comfort you. “There is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.” (Luke 12:2) That is downright scary! There is both good news and bad news in this saying. I’ll give you the good news first. Jesus is not a gossip. Jesus gets nothing from making you look bad, and actually wants to protect you from demeaning words and ridicule. God will keep the conversations He has with you confidential.

The bad news is that God knows EVERYTHING about you. Even if you take those secrets to the grave, He already knows them and will not let you go without dealing with them. NOTHING is a secret from God. So, if God already knows your deepest darkest secrets and guilt, why do we try to hide it from Him? Why do we try to massage the truth so God will think better of ourselves. He already knows all the dirt on us. Perhaps this ‘bad news’ is really good news. We don’t have to waste time and energy making ourselves look better. There is no perception gap between the truth of who you are and how God sees you. This ‘bad news’ is also good news because you can work through what you can talk about. Our dark secrets can only be healed when we lift them before the purifying light of God. God already knows you better than you know yourself. So be yourself with Him. The paradox is that when we are ourselves with God, we don’t have to stay ourselves.

Embrace the fact that God already knows you. Let it shape your thought life and prayer life. God will not tell anyone else your secrets, and He’ll never use anything against you. There is nothing in your life that can change his love for you because he already knows it all. We don’t have a choice about being transparent with God. That is good news all around.

In Christ,

Jonathan