Transparency is good. At least when it comes to leadership, public figures, and politicians.

Executives profess to seek transparency to assure their company’s shareholders and clients. Political candidates offer promises of transparency to get elected. Managers brag about their open-door policy. Transparency makes everyone feel comfortable. Just saying the word puts minds at ease.

Unfortunately, often, that’s all it is. Just a word. Something people promise but don’t follow through with. Why? Because it’s hard. Scary. Dangerous. Humbling. Hindering.

Everyone loves transparency — when it’s other people being transparent.

Transparency for me? No. No way. I deserve privacy. You should be transparent, but not me.

Jesus calls His followers to be transparent with each other. We call it accountability. Our mistakes are to be confessed, brought into the open. Aired out. Our lives and choices, good and bad, are not meant to be secret or hidden.

Jesus’s followers should be like windows. Without curtains. No one-way glass. Just clear see-through windows. In this way, the light of Jesus can shine straight through us into the lives of those living in darkness, the people who really need His love and salvation.

Sure, sin comes along and smudges our glass. We get dim and splotchy. But Jesus promises to wash us clean and sparkly every time we come to Him. So His light can shine through again.

“but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John‬ ‭1‬:‭7‬ ‭LSB‬‬)

Unfortunately, many of us Christians have closed our shutters completely. Drawn our drapes. We are hiding secret lives. We profess Jesus outside, but keep our inside deep in shade. We are afraid of confessing, afraid of being judged, afraid or being known for who we really are, for what we have done or are continuing to do.

Jesus’s light can’t shine through that window. That life holds nothing but darkness. It’s time to open up, confess the sin, clean it up, and let the light of love shine in every corner. Only then will you be free, walking in the light.

Dear God, the world is a scary place. It’s hard to be transparent with you and even harder to be transparent with other people. Thank you for providing your church community where you long for us to be honest and open with each other. Teach us how to live transparently in love and forgiveness, without judgment. This is how your kingdom is truly meant to be. Guide us in how to grow communities of real transparency.