3. Honesty relieves us of the scourge of self-judgment. So long as we remain in hiding, alone with our sin, it is easy to wallow in guilt and shame. We flog ourselves with memories of every time we failed to live up to expectations—ours or those of others—and cringe with shock and dismay at the depth of our unworthiness. Since we don’t allow God to answer for Himself in such moments, it is easy to imagine He feels about us the same way we do—deeply disappointed. Not much occasion for joy in this scenario, that’s for sure!
But when I bring those same shortfalls to Him in honest and open confession—what happens? Insults and scolding? Hardly! Like the dad in the story of the prodigal son, my Father orders a feast in my honor, runs to meet me with princely robes and a ring of belonging. Seeing God’s gladness at the prospect of reconciliation with me, my self-recrimination vanishes like shadows when I turn on a light—and his joy becomes my own.
4. Honesty centers us in Christ, the author of all joy and our hope of salvation. As we have seen, Jesus is the only doorway into a deeper and more honest relationship with God. It is only by His atonement for our sins that we may enter God’s presence at all. But once there, and once we choose the vulnerability of being truly open and honest, something miraculous happens: that very honesty in turn strengthens our bond with Christ as the center of our lives. It is an ever deepening and widening spiral of transformation, each step empowering the next.
Honesty with God isn’t another exercise in disciplined devotion. It is the key that opens the vault holding our inheritance in Christ—salvation from sin and the unstoppable living water of joy that flows from it.
