Transparency

This is the era of unequaled transparency in government our President has promised us. From January 21st through now we haven’t seen hardly any of that promise come to pass. Don’t get me wrong. There is a snazzier WhiteHouse.gov website. It does have a section called Open Government Initiative. Nice work, gang, but how come things like the 1,200 page Climate Bill got passed without Congress having read it, much less the citizens? Obama had promised that bills would be posted online 5 days before they were voted on so that we would have time to read the bills and contact our Congresspeople if we had questions, etc. So much for the promised transparency.

On a side note I started thinking this morning about the subject of transparency as it applies to Christians. (Oh no, Lori! Don’t go down that road!) Yup, we all know we are supposed to live a life of accountability and openness before our spouses, friends and those leaders who are guiding us. It’s a lot easier to talk about it rather than actually doing it.

I might be fairly transparent to my husband, partially because he knows me so well and has lived with me for 26 years. The question I have to ask myself is “What am I hiding from him?” I’m also supposed to live an open life with my close friends, confessing my sins and shortcomings to them. I do this but not as much as I should or as I need to. Leaders? Don’t we all want to put our “best face” on around our pastors so they will see what “strong” Christians we are? I work with my pastors but still there is that “flinch factor” that internally tries to make me hide my flaws.

As I thought about all of this today I realized that yes, Obama has not done what he has promised but neither have I. I have no intention of giving him a free ride but I also cannot give myself one either. Unequaled transparency is what God wants from all of us. Let this be the season that we start working on that aspect of our Christian walk.  We, and the world, will be the better for it.

Scriptures

James 5:16 Confess your sins to one another so that you may be healed.

Ephesians 4:25 So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body.

Comments

[Eleanor]

Ouch.
I love that passage from James and yet, it's so hard to see the "yucky" things in others and then turn around and notice yourself covered in them!

[WidneyWoman]

So true. I'm in a stage of my life where the icky life stuff is coming out all around me. It seemed like everyone had these great lives when we lived in Tulsa. Then, about a year or two before we moved, the cracks in people's lives started showing through. It made me wonder what kind of crazy and kink was lurking behind every door.

Then we moved to Chicago. People we have encountered live their lives out loud and in the open. Maybe it is a city thing because everyone is piled on top of or right next to each other. But in the church, people are honest with their struggles. People have openly admitted their sexual addictions in church and 1-on-1 conversations. It's not to glorify the sin, but to take the power of secrecy out of it. If we are to confess our sins, keeping it secret and living a separate life is counter to that.

I find it easier to live a transparent life than to lie and hide. So much less messy - and confusing!