No Filters

 

One character trait that I value is transparency. My parents didn’t hide behind pretense so when I began to encounter it as I grew to adulthood, I didn’t know what to do with it. From the NT bits about Nathanael, one of Jesus’ disciples, I know that God blesses those whose hearts are transparent.

Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” (John 1:47)

Because this man was open of heart, God was open to him. Jesus said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” (John 1:51)

Transparency pleases God because being His child involves the state of our hearts, not the names we call ourselves, the building we worship in, or even our creeds and statements of faith. Just as Jesus knew the heart of Nathanael, He know my heart.

In the OT, He used the wilderness wanderings to reveal hearts:

And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. (Deuteronomy 8:2)

He also says many times that He reveal truth to our hearts, such as His goodness and the sinfulness of our own lives . . .

And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed. (Joshua 23:14)

 . . . whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart and stretching out his hands toward this house, then hear in heaven your dwelling place and forgive and act and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways (for you, you only, know the hearts of all the children of mankind), that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our fathers. (1 Kings 8:38–40)

Yet at times, my sin blocks discernment. When that happens, I need to pray as the psalmist did: “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23–24) And this invites the saving power of God: “I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.” (Jeremiah 24:7)

I needed a new heart because what Jesus said is true: “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” (Luke 16:15) Sin is so deceitful that without God, we will call evil good and good evil. Blind to the selfishness of our hearts, we run our own lives and ignore God.

This is why transparency blesses me in others. It indicates they have begun to see the truth about themselves and further, are willing to acknowledge it. No pretense. No filters. No excuses. Their hearts are enlightened, and while this is only part of that spiritual journey to the Cross, it indicates readiness to see what is true.

Even then, even as a Christian, my heart is not the final say. As said before, sin is deceptive. Not only that, Satan is a deceiver who knows that a sensitive heart can be subject to suggestion so he accuses God’s people of evil doing, either bringing up sin that has been confessed and forgiven, or making vague accusations to give the feeling of ‘being in the wrong’ when nothing is wrong. False guilt ruins transparency because it makes me feel wrong but without clarity about what I did wrong, so how can I be open about what is going on in my heart when I don’t know what it is? This is why reading God’s Word is vital:

By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. (1 John 3:19–20)

PRAY: Thank You Jesus for the power of the Holy Spirit to reveal my heart issues to me even when Satan has me in a fog. Thank You for teaching me to not fear ‘what will people think’ that can keep me from being a transparent person. Keep my heart right. Then the right words and actions will follow — because from the heart all things flow, and because I do not want to ever be a hypocrite who pretends things that are not true. Most of all, thank You for Your great heart that loves me and guides me through this maze called life.

KNOW: and memorize Romans 12:1–2 as a defense against hypocrisy and to keep my heart filled with the right stuff!