Transparency

“Without the purpose and work of Christ using me for his purpose, my contribution to this world would be an asphalt driveway in front of our home and a thousand lost golf balls.” – T. S. Elliot

What do we illuminate in our own existence? Who do we reflect? When we interact with others, what are the intentions behind what we speak of and who we speak to? Are we attentive to the other? There are a variety of questions which populate the purpose and the common thread of our interactions with others; it seems that our world demands an ever-divided self of social modalism. For the politically correct, there are words that are reserved from the public, feelings kept under wraps, and ideas isolated by kid gloves. The downside of this is a lack of transparency and an atmosphere of a lack of trust permeating our society.

We experience our lives of self-pursuit; our habits of social interaction. We are constantly assimilating our lives to the places of society and culture which Godly perspective has called us to be set apart from. We stay locked in the melancholy, manipulated experience counterintuitive to the Rock of Ages. We absorb our activities with pleasure, entertainment, achievement, and safety; and when we can’t talk about ourselves in this way, we speak about others in these arenas. The preoccupation with these captivations leaves us parallel to those who are still trapped in a world without higher purpose; we leave them in the dark without what we have access to and experience with the one who provides the principles of why we persevere in our own lives. In doing this we confuse ourselves to the point of seeing our character in light of the same inspirationally lacking pursuits. We then trudge forward confused by God’s work, or felt lack of, in our lives; baffled by our ineffectiveness to know peace and contentment. We forget that our character is inspired by God; embodied in our definition in Him. We are of Christ, and He is of the Father. If we do not come to understand ourselves solely in this context, we lose our understanding of our true heart, mind, will and character. Our opaque nature shows as we become caught between what we know of ourselves to be and who we are trying to show others that we are. We begin to pursue goals outside of the nature of our character and thus split our will and try to serve two masters. In this spiritually schizophrenic environment we become disillusioned, discouraged and begin to control our way back to sanity of the opaque.

The innate acknowledgement of who we are begins and ends with Christ. We are of Him and He is of the Father. When we know ourselves within this context alone, we regain our bearings. We transparently show security in Him who is sovereign, pleasure in putting others before ourselves, and power embodied in the work of our Savior. We become a resource to others which illuminates their own needs to wrestle with themselves and their own questions for lasting purpose and identification. Christ was a responder to others, reflecting the face of the Father. As Elliot once wrote, “My soul, be prepared for Him who knows how to ask questions.” The decisive ability to respond to others, ask the right questions, listens to their needs in light of their words, and truly, transparently show the love and acceptance of Christ is a powerful and God honoring refuge that we can be for others along side us on the road of life. We liken our actions to Christ, following him and being an open vessel for Him to use in others lives. As we emulate Him, we find our own transparency reflecting the Father for who He is, instead of ourselves for who we want people to see us as. When we do this, we become a place of consistency in the lives of others and a source of hope. We transparently show his purpose and work in our lives. We cover the opacity of our failing efforts to provide our own meaning to our life and draw others to Christ, who we are defined in and following. Ultimately we find our lives focused on Him, our relationships with others focused on Him, our mindset focused on Him, and our desires based in Him. Liken your will to that of the Father and He will give you the desires of your heart. We are of Christ and He is of the Father. I pray that the contributions to this world from all of us are marked by the grace and glory of our Lord to all who see our face, our lives, and through our transparency – our Heavenly Father, and Savior Jesus Christ.