The idea of authenticity sounds appealing, especially in an age where sound bites and social media posts try to legitimatize shallow superficiality. However, the process to becoming transparent can be difficult simply because it is the road less traveled. Why? As that great theologian, the Velveteen Rabbit, said, “It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept.”
That journey to honesty and authenticity is the longest trip that any of us will ever take in our lifetimes. It is definitely not for the faint of heart. It hurts to become real because our scars, personality quirks, insecurities, lack of discipline, and utter failures are pleading with us not to be exposed lest we lose worth in the eyes of those around us. Perhaps even more, we too want to believe the best of the poser that lives within.
The Lord speaking through Jeremiah describes each of us, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds” (Jeremiah 17:9, 10). Part of the process of sanctification is for us to understand how the fall has affected each of us so deeply. This insight is painful and often seems like a bad thing, but it is necessary. And through it, God grants occasional glimpses into the glory that awaits us someday.
In this journey toward authenticity, we cannot become rigid or fragile lest we break easily with self-disappointment. Others, with their own set of hypocrisies, may unintentionally add insult to injury. Still, we cannot allow our sharp edges to keep the truth at a distance just because we know it is going to hurt. The good news is that God will be gentle with us as our heart is soft towards Him. He measures everything that comes our way to have His desired effect. He doesn’t want to break us as much as mold us, but sometimes we are so hard-hearted that it does take a necessary breaking.
It is no wonder so many want to take the speed of the interstate rather than drive into the curves and crevices of their heart. It takes time. We must pay careful attention because we can miss warning signs so easily. We may miss a turn and feel like we are driving into an uncontrollable abyss. But I believe that when we get further down the road, we will find the view breathtaking. The road less traveled will reveal special moments that will blaze a trail others will want to follow.
“Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway.” – Mother Theresa
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