Getting Real: Going Beyond the Superficial
My self is a superficial person. It doesn't open up to people, and it never lets them know how I really feel. When people ask me how I'm doing, it just says the words that they want to hear, and hopes they let it slide, never questioning me deeper. Because if I have to go deeper, I will have to reveal parts about me that I want no one to know about. I would have to admit, that I, too, am a sinner. Why is that so hard?
Maybe because I see how everyone else seems to "have it together." I mean, how often do you see someone really sin in public? No thief steals while the security guard is watching. And no sinner sins if someone he is playing "good" to is watching. So I allow myself to believe that everyone else is perfect, so I never reveal that I am not perfect. Irrational, I know. But isn't that the way self works? Its self-preservation instincts will throw out anything to avoid crucifixion.
What I've come to realize is that not opening up, not showing my sins, is sin in itself. We are told to "confess your sins one to another." And when I don't, I'm disobeying a direct command of God. Scary, and a little harsh, don't you think? But God isn't just a God of love, but also One who desires obedience. If I don't confess my sins to others, then have I really confessed them even to God? Have I even admitted that I am a sinner?
I think that it is time Christians get real with each other. None of us are helped by pretending that we are all perfect. We need to lean on each other, and be accountable to one another. Yes, that means I have to go first. And you have to go first. No one is going to come up to you and say, "Will you be accountable to me?" Start a trend. Live the life.
Get real.