What if we were honest?

This week we continued exploring “What if...” at Journey.
Week one we looked into “What if we Cared?”, this week we built on that and went deeper into “What if we were honest”

Yeah.... Honesty.
Like Billy Joel wrote and sang....
“Honesty is such a lonely word.
Everyone is so untrue.
Honesty is hardly ever heard.
And mostly what I need from you.”

Amazing how we want people to be honest with us, yet we so often find it hard to be honest with others. I believe we as Christians especially long for honesty, yet it’s really hard to live out. In fact, real honesty within Christian circles is extremely hard to live out. It’s always been that way. Why because once we have Christ in our lives, once we have let God move back into our lives, somehow we have been told, or it’s implied... “PUT ON A HAPPY FACE”. After all God saved you and you’re free so everything has to be better.

In Jesus time... the religious leaders were the best at keeping up their image, appearances and happy face. This is also the group that Jesus spoke out against the most passionately. Jesus exposed the religious leaders, the Pharisees, Sadducees and Priest HYPROCISY. We often give the religious leaders a bad rap in Jesus day. After all Jesus publicly calls many of them, not all of them as HYPOCRITES. Do you know where the term HYPOCRITE came from? A Hypocrite as actor. The actor would hide behind a mask and play their role out. The goal... was to have the audience see and believe that the man and the mask were one and the same. A great hypocrite could change masks and have the audience believe he was now someone else.

Sad to say, but many of us are Modern Day PHARISEE HYPOCRITES. I wonder how many of us well intentioned Christians, juggle several masks at the same-time? Hyprocisy is an attempt to escape the pain, embarrassment and discomfort that comes with the sin in our lives.

Hypocrisy is all about IMAGE.
When we try and keep up appearances, our image, it gets to be exhausting.
Image vs Honesty is a real big battle for many of us. It is especially hard for religious people. As religious people we have been shown and told, put on a smile, let others see how good you are.... but don’t you dare take the mask off.

One of the strongest emotions in our lives is fear.
Fear blocks honesty.... actually fear is the arch-enemy of honesty.

What if we were honest means that our image can not be more important that building and having real, authentic, relationships.
Instead of fear blocking us, we need to become more transparent with those closest to us. To be really honest, we must get honest with God, ourselves and then others. Because the real issue is not the many masks we wear, but the condition of our heart.

Jeremiah the OT Prophet understood this issues as he wrote.
Jeremiah 17:9-10
 
9 “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things,
      and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?
 10 But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives.
   I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.”

Until get real, honest and expose our ugly sinful hearts, we can’t be really honest with anyone. Not even ourselves. How important is honesty to you? How important is integrity to you? Don’t wait for someone to be honesty with you, start first with being honest with God and yourself. 
It’s amazing how dangerous and yet freeing honesty can be.