Transparency

Just like this picture, when something is transparent you don’t have to wonder what’s behind it. Like a glass that let’s you see the clarity of the water you’re drinking. When it’s a person who is transparent, you get a glimpse of the stuff that’s really inside.

Sometimes it’s messy and ugly.

Often it reveals pain and tension from the soul.

Transparency vs. Hypocrisy

I have the privilege of spending the week with a group of high school students for youth camp. I have been amazed at the openness of the students. I am rooming with a group of about 20 high school junior and senior guys – and I am blown away at the transparency they are showing.

Well, most of them anyway.

Some of them are actually playing the part pretty well. It’s like they are going for an Oscar for best actor! They know all the right words to say and which parts to emphasize. They have done it many times before – probably at camp or another event similar to this. They speak the words but they are void of any real meaning. They lack the ability to produce life change because they are external motions.

Transparency is driven from within. For believers, it’s the internal force of the Holy Spirit leading us to open ourselves up.

Some of these guys get it. Someone forgot to tell them that they weren’t supposed to be real about the struggles they have with pride, and lust, and addiction. Somebody forgot to tell them that they won’t get picked for the “best kid” at camp award. But that’s just it. I don’t think they care. God is stirring in their hearts and they are simply responding. Being honest that they don’t have it all figured out.

That’s transparency.

It’s refreshing.

It’s biblical.

The Death of Transparency

James writes this: ‘Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.‘ (James 5:16)

This, like most commands of Scripture, does not come with an expiration date.

Yet something peculiar seems to happen around the age of 25 – give or take. About the final break on car insurance, it’s like the genetic coding for transparency mutates and moves to the off position.

I think it’s mostly fear that keeps us from being open and honest with others. The fear of being hurt or rejected. The fear of being misunderstood. Fear is not from God and can be overcome as we yield to and trust in the Holy Spirit to guide us.

I think we also hold things close to the vest for another – potentially deadly – reason. P-R-I-D-E. That ugly tool of the enemy that assaults us so often. Many times, we don’t share openly – even with those closest to us – because we don’t want them to know the awful and beautiful truth. We don’t have it all together!!!

So here’s your challenge from a group of high school students at Camp Summit this week: be transparent. Open yourself up. Share and confide your struggles, fears, and inadequacies with another believer this week.

You may just find the encouragement you need.