Be Yourself: Understanding God

When we have the courage to face who we really are, we will also have the inspiration of seeing who God really is. Honesty is not an end in itself—it is a means to our own transformation.

22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

James 1:22-25

The Bible was written to show us who we are. Without his word being applied to our lives consistently, we lose a grip on reality and start living a fantasy. How does your refusal to listen to God’s word impact you?

The refusal to listen to:

• The truth about God – We lose faith in the goodness of God
• The truth about ourselves – We grow unaware of our motives, desires ,and sins
• The truth about our friends – We start to see people as threats instead of friends
• The truth about others – We see life without God as more fulfilling

 “The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out.
 But I, God, search the heart
and examine the mind.
I get to the heart of the human.  I get to the root of things.
I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be.”

Jeremiah 17:9-10 (MSG)

It is not possible to be honest on our own, because we cannot figure out what we truly think and feel.  Only with God’s help, can we actually be honest about our heart. Believing that God truly understands us is essential to living a life of honesty.

If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done.

Ecclesiastes 11:4 (TLB)

We always tell ourselves that we will be honest when conditions are perfect. We put the burden of creating a safe environment on other people, which leads us to never really being open.
Because liars are focused on men, they can always find a humanistic excuse to not be honest.

What are your top excuses for not being honest?

• It takes too much emotional work to figure out what I think
• Being honest won’t change anything anyways
• I’m doing it to protect you, I didn’t want to hurt your feelings
• My emotions are not what I really think, they’re just emotions.
• I don’t have the time to tell everyone the truth
• I didn’t think it was a sin, so I didn’t need to confess it

God Wants to Know You

God is the only person who is interested in what we truly think and feel at all times.

You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.  2You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.  3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways. 4Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.

Psalm 139:1-5

Far too often we find ourselves bitter with people because they don’t understand us, but God is the only one who can truly understand who we are. God is interested in us.

Take Off the Filter

Intimacy with God is found through raw honesty.

You deserve honesty from the heart; yes, utter sincerity and truthfulness. Oh, give me this wisdom.

Psalm 51:6

When something is raw that means it is uncooked, unaltered, unprocessed, unrefined, and untreated.  Meat doesn’t have to be raw—it just is. God does not need truth gift-wrapped, because he finds the most closeness when we are raw.

Questions/Application

• What truths about God do you need to believe to live a life of honesty?
• What are your humanistic reasons for not being honest?
• What person have you put God-like expectations on to understand you?

Prayer Ideas

• Emotional Awareness – Give yourself 10 minutes of pure raw honesty with God. Don’t allow your emotions to take over your prayer, but give yourself a defined period of time to let go.
• Praying Through Scriptures – Take a scripture that you need to put into practice and pray through each word of that scripture.

Additional Reading

• Honest to God: Becoming Brutally Honest with a Gracious God, Josh Weidmann
• Calvary Road, Roy Hession