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!

 

Bad news, Good news!

So far, the devotional material I’m reading is about foundational truths. What it says often lines up with the material in two books I’m reading and the Bible study I attend. This seems mysterious until I realize that foundational truths are just that — they join hands and form a strong wall around my heart.

The Bible study is about prayer and the need for spiritual armor. Without God’s protection, I will fail — not only in praying but in living for Christ.

One of the books is about ‘respectable sins’ — those things that Christians, myself included, so easily do without thinking and without condemnation. Without the conviction of the Holy Spirit, I will fall into these and they will pull me deeper and deeper — and I will fail to live for Christ.

The other book is called “Listening to the Voice of God” written by a pastor who shares his struggles to pray. He appeared successful to others, but was often on the brink of disaster because of pride and other problems. I cannot relate to his job description, but I can relate to his problems. As God sets him free, my prayers are for the same deliverance lest I also get dragged down and fail to live for Christ.

Today’s devotional material sets my heart singing. This passage is rich, a favorite that calms my anxiety and concerns about being a total failure . . .  

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:28–39)

Without Jesus, I would be condemned already because of my sin. With Jesus, there is no possibility for condemnation. The Scriptures encourage me with verses like these . . .

“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)

God knows that I am called, justified, and will eventually be like Jesus. He knows that Jesus died for me, that all my sin is covered. No one can accuse me or condemn me before Him because He hears the intercessory prayers of His Son.

As for the trials of life, nothing can separate me from the love of God, and He even uses all of what threatens me for my good, to aid in the process of transforming me into the image of His Son.

Not only that, God is the only one with the power and authority to condemn anyone (woe to me for doing any so-called respectable sin), but since my sin has been put on Christ, there is no condemnation. I am pardoned and every sin forgiven.

Jesus, the odd thing about this wonderful salvation is that a true understanding of it does not make me assume that I can sin and it doesn’t matter. Rather, knowing what You have done puts a deep desire in my heart to never sin again. While that is not going to happen in this life, You declare that in eternity, I shall have that desire fulfilled. Praise Your name!