The Transparency of God

“And before the throne was a sea of glass” (Rev. 4:6).
I once had a dream about a church in which I was speaking that had no walls. People could see in and out. Even the bathrooms had no walls, and no one was embarrassed. Of course, the Father wasn’t saying He wants bathrooms with no walls! But this is illustrative of how He wants his church to be. Most of us find this quite intimidating, but a heart that is transparent can receive light from the Lord and pass it on. We’re not afraid for him to closely examine us warts and all! After all, He sees right into us (Heb. 4:13). I’ll never forget a book I read by Jamie Buckingham, who wrote The Last Word for Charisma magazine for 13 years. Jamie died 25 years ago but was remembered by CEO and founder Stephen Strang on the anniversary of Jamie's death as “the conscience of the charismatic movement.” Jamie had no problem humorously criticizing the overzealousness and even unscrupulous habits of TV evangelists ("Dear God, the ministry is broke again!") or other charlatans who felt it necessary to overstate. Anyway, the book I read was titled “Where Eagles Soar.” In one part of the book Jamie described how he and another brother in Christ stood bare naked (that’s necked in Alabama) on a mountaintop worshipping God with all their might with no shame whatsoever. Jamie might think twice today if he wrote that within in the context of today's suspicious environment (well, maybe he wouldn’t). Most of us desire intimacy with God, but it’s unlikely to happen very quickly until “IntoMeSee” (transparency) takes place. As our own desire for transparency allows us to turn to Him with unveiled faces – and that’s not all – we can become like Adam and Eve …and they were naked and not ashamed” (Gen. 2:25).