Transparency or Pretending

Last night was another instant classic in the historic Duke-UNC rivalry. Every time these two teams play, it ignites a passion from both fan bases. Yesterday I watched a very clever and hilarious video (you can watch HERE) that was produced by Duke Student Broadcasting. In the video, a Duke student heads to UNC dressed up as a "Tarheel fan". While walking around campus, he asks students their thoughts on the big game. As he pretends to be a fellow fan, they answer his questions claiming they know what they’re talking about. But, they actually have little knowledge of the UNC basketball team and are faking their responses. Little do the UNC students know that their lies aren’t working. Regardless of your allegiance in the rivalry, the video was revealing. To me, it represents the way we live all too often. We can mislead others into thinking we are someone that we’re not, and fool them with the answers we give to their questions. We might respond with very little detail or half-truths just so they think we have it all together. Unfortunately, the biggest front we give is how we’re doing with our faith. By putting on our "church clothes" each Sunday, we are hoping people believe we're doing great and living obediently. Instead, we are only tricking them into thinking we’re one way when the truth is we aren’t actually following Jesus. The Bible says in Ephesians 4:25: “What this adds up to, then, is this: no more lies, no more pretense. Tell your neighbor the truth. In Christ’s body, we’re all connected to each other, after all. When you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself.” Regardless of the fronts, we’ve put on in the past, God knows the truth. Let’s stop lying to our family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers by finding freedom in transparency. Tricking and pretending can be exhausting to keep up with, so let’s commit to being real and honest with people. Let’s allow others to know who we genuinely are and what we’re actually going through...the good and the bad.  I’m Bryce Johnson and you can UNPACK that!