On Transparency With Self
Okay, so we talked about being honest with God and being honest with others–not easy things to do–but before we can do that we have to be honest with our self–maybe the hardest of all.
Why is it so hard to be honest with our self? To see our self as we truly are? Pride. It’s why we can’t admit when we’re wrong, why we can’t ask for help, why we won’t be honest with God and others.
It’s easier to go through life ignoring our own shortcomings and pretending like we have it all together. Hey, after all, we’re no different than anyone else, right? To admit we’re selfish, greedy, vengeful, lazy, gluttonous, faithless, jealous, weak (okay, okay, stop already!) is to see our self in a way that’s very uncomfortable.
My suggestion, take a look in God’s mirror–the Bible. A few year ago, my middle daughter had a lisp of sorts and her “ch” sound came out sounding like an “s”. One day we hung a mirror in her room and it was a little high for her. She approached the mirror, stood on her tiptoes until she could see her entire face, and proudly proclaimed, “I can see my sin!” Of course, she meant her chin, but, boy, what a word picture. God’s Word is the mirror that shows us our true self, reveals our shortcomings, and gives us God’s eyes.
Before we can be honest with God and others, we need to own up to our real identity. We need to be brutally honest with our self, with our intentions, with our motivations, with our thoughts. It’s not always a pretty thing but it is liberating in a way, as honesty always is.
There’s no sense in fooling and lying to our self. Honesty of any kind starts with the man in the mirror.
