Happy Transparency
A lot of human energy gets wasted on presenting false impressions. Most of us know about this first hand as it is a primary instinct. Given the options of people having a full and clear picture of our abilities, our character, our our virtues and their having a positively distorted one, we choose the latter. This is demonstrated especially by those who take vociferous offence at my saying that and would try to make us believe that they would prefer for everyone to see them as they really are. Such pretension merely proves my point.
It is the nature of sin to hide itself. Even those who boast of sin like how drunk they were on the weekend, their triumphant sexual conquests, or their ability to deceive those who trust them, keep their foundational sin carefully hidden. They don’t talk about knowing that they never measure up, that they inflict pain on those they love, that they feel ashamed of themselves at the deepest level. Their easy talk is mere bravado and designed to portray themselves as something other than the insecure, fearful, empty persons they are.
Keeping up a social facade is wearying. It takes energy which could be otherwise employed for positive purposes. It keeps others at bay, which may fulfil our intention, but is contrary to our need for authentic connection. Even if we feel that we are above the need for community (a delusion, by the way), preventing others from knowing us as we really are cheats them from have the real relationship with us that they need.
Psalm 32:2 points to interpersonal transparency as a source of happiness. We read “Blessed (happy) is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.” Transparency with God (and with others) leads us to confess our sin and ask for forgiveness. This casts out the spirit of deceit. When the slate is clean, when we are right with God and those around us, there is nothing to hide.
The compulsion to keep secrets is a sure sign that something is wrong. When we need to hide a relationship, hide an activity, hide a habit, hide anything, we should see a red flag of warning waving in the breeze. On the surface, the proverb "Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!" (Proverbs 9:17) is true. Yet at what price? We engage in secret sin to our own detriment - the loss of happiness. How bitter it is to have a secret that fills us with self-condemnation and fear of discovery!
Happiness depends on our being the kind of people who have nothing to hide. Happy people rejoice in the thought that “there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” They can do that because their account has been settled at the cross. No judgment awaits them so fear and shame have been put to flight. “The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7)
Happy people are transparent with God and others.
Ron Hughes
© October 2007
