The Essence of Transparency
The Essence of Transparency…
In my quiet time today, I thought about the teaching that MIT Tiffaney shared on Wednesday…which by the way was a great word. #thanksTip!! I thought about how vital it is that we learn to live transparent lives before the Lord as well as others. So many in the body of Christ are wearing spiritual fig leaves, so that where the light of Jesus Christ is suppose to shine through, it cannot. And might I add this; this is why discerning and prophetic hearing will be key in this hour. So that you will be able to detect what is hidden behind folks (and your own) motives and reasons for what they do or don’t do… 👀
What does it mean to exemplify Transparency? According to Merriam Dictionary it is;
* Able to be seen through * Easy to notice or understand * Honest and open; not secretive * Free pretense or deceit
There are some, who are so closed into themselves that you really cannot see the real them. You know they must possess some kind of potential on the inside, but they are so closed up and consume with themselves and what they need that the treasure in them is undetected!(I call these folks needy!…& needy folks will drain the life out of you) They always need a private audience with you, because they have stuff on the inside that they are hiding…They lack transparency-truth in the inward parts…When you are transparent you are not complicated, but easy to deal with, because it can be understood where you are coming from. The life you live literally speaks for you. You have not been one who has an inconsistent track record! Wow! Transparent people are honest and open, not secretive! You don’t have to pull and pry to get to who they really are. Please watch folks that you have to keep coming after them…coming to get them from obscure places because they don’t want to be seen. Or those who want to pull you into private corners (especially after the Apostles have already given instructions on how prophesy is done in the house 👀)Co'mon saints what’s the motive behind that?! Which brings me to my last point…Transparent folks are free from pretense, trying to appear to be something that they are not! May I say? Please be the real you! You may have to go find out who that is…LOL But do be the real you! Much of the deceit, dishonesty disappointment and so on that the body of Christ has experienced comes from many simply not being transparent. Trying to appear as if you have it going on…and don’t get me wrong, you do as long as Jesus is the center of what you have going on!! Let us clean up those interesting areas of our lives, so that we won’t mind being transparent! For Real!
2 Corinthians 1:12-14 (ESV) 12 For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. 13 For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand and I hope you will fully understand— 14 just as you did partially understand us—that on the day of our Lord Jesus you will boast of us as we will boast of you.
Today in all we do, are we transparent enough so that people have a reason to trust us? On a daily basis, people everywhere face temptations to hide the truth. Are we obscuring our motivations in order to falsely gain trust from someone, friend or foe? Are we making decisions in secret as a way of avoiding accountability or hiding things others would object to? Are we pretending to support while present, but speaking oppositely behind close doors? Paul’s example shows us that these actions are wrong. Moreover, whatever brief advantage we might gain from them is more than lost in the long run because people learn not to trust us. And if people cannot trust us, can God?
