2 Timothy 1:7 says this about fear: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but God has given us a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind.” God has not given us a spirit of fear. Fear is not of God, but God has given us a spirit of love. God wants us to first connect intimately with Him, and out of an intimate personal relationship with God, His perfect loves drives out all fear, and we are able to have healthy relationships with others. The problem is, so many of us have not become secure in an intimate relationship with God; therefore, we fear transparency (removing the mask and revealing who you really are; getting beyond the surface to what is really going on in your heart) with other people.So many people I know are living with barriers to transparency in their lives because of past pain – and their pain is real. So many people I know today build walls of protection around their heart.
But look at what God’s love does to eliminate that fear. 1 John 4:18 says: “There is no fear in in love . . . in love, but perfect love does drives out fear.” If we as the body of Christ are to connect as the Lord intended we must take faith relational risk. What are the rewards of transparency? In Genesis 2:25, “Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.” There was complete transparency and openness of relationships between God and man, man and women only when sin entered into the equation was the hiding from open intimacy. The reward becomes freedom to love and be loved as God intended from the beginning. Jesus said in Matthew 22:37, “Love the Lord your God will all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.” We must first start with intimacy with God though Christ, and He said, “the second most important thing is like it, to love your neighbour as yourself.” Let us walk in faith, letting the life of Christ to heal our hearts and recieve freedom in Christ to become transparent.