4 Questions that Lead to Freedom
Why do we hide so easily?
Fear of rejection.
Fear of judgment.
Fear of the consequences of honesty.
Fear of losing a relationship.
No decision made in fear is ever healthy.
I think it was Andy Stanley that said, “We fear the consequences of confession because we have yet to realize the consequences of concealment.”
I spent three years in an “accountability “ relationship in which I wasn’t transparent. I shared just enough with my accountability partner to look accountable. It is an exhausting way to live. Lying to the people that are closest to you is never life giving.
I want to be known. I want to feel loved. The path to being loved and known is by being transparent. I am consistently asking myself these questions as I attempt to be transparent…maybe they will help you today:
1. Am I telling the entire truth right now?
Shading the truth is easy. Exaggerating is often unnoticeable. As I am telling any story, but especially a story about myself, I want to always ask, “Am I telling the entire truth right now? Am I leave anything out or adding anything to this story? Am I lying when the truth will do?”
2. Am I sharing details that will make me look more spiritual than I really am?
You know how this rolls…we share parts of our heart with someone and 100% of our motivation is to show them how “close to God” we are. We want them to think of us as spiritual; we want to appear put together; we want to settle any doubt they may have of our relationship with God.
3. Am I trying to protect someone with only part of the truth?
I convince myself that if I tell the truth, it is only going to hurt a particular relationship. Truth does hurt a relationship…but it hurts like the setting of a broken bone hurts. There is tremendous pain in the moment, but then the relationship is set back in place to be stronger than it was before.
4. Am I telling myself the truth?
Sometime the person I need to be the most honest with is myself. I can deceive myself easier than anyone else. If I can’t be honest with myself, then I’m incapable of being honest with others.
These are four questions I use to be transparent, what would you add or take away?
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