Honest and Real

I don’t know about you but I get exhausted by fake Christianity, fatigued from singing about a faith I only wished I possessed, tired of pretending I’ve got it all together. Do you ever feel the gap between what you sing on Sunday and how you actually live on Monday, ever long for something honest. Something real.

Personal Reflection 

Honest and RealCurt Brickley

3:46

If you’re like me, you get tired of fake religion that has the appearance of godliness but lacks the power, purpose, and peace of an honest, intimate, and abiding relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Some Sunday mornings at church I find myself singing hymns and praise songs that are more aspirational than actual. You know what I mean?

Take the hymn “I Surrender All.” It says, “All to Jesus I surrender… All to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all.”

What?! “All”?! I don’t think so! The reality is that none of us can sing that song as actual truth. If we did, we’d be lying to God. Our struggle to surrender even some to God is a daily battle, full of failure, only fought by His grace and tender mercies.

Now, on the other hand, there’s “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” That one is actual. I can sing that with 100% confidence:

“Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above.”

That’s real. That’s how it is. And that’s the kind of honest song — and honest Christian — I want to be.

Theme 

I wanna write a song, honest and real About what is and not what I feel.

I’m just not taking every breath for You. I wish it weren’t true. My sin’s like glue — it won’t come off. I stumble and I fall. But it’s not who I am. You came to live in me, to make me a different man — someone not me.

This song is about the daily battle between the old man and the new man. It’s about being honest enough to admit the struggle while standing on the truth of who we are in Christ.

The man I am can’t hold his head high on his own. I eat from the tree and I know why. It’s flesh against spirit. But I’m not what I do.

I’m lovin’ the day when all this is done — when faith becomes sight and I’m finally perfected in heaven, honest and real.

Scripture Foundation 

• “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

• “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are… Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” (1 John 3:1-3)

Processing Questions 

Take a few moments and reflect: 

1. Where in your life are you singing “aspirational” words instead of honest ones? 

2. Are you tired of pretending to have it all together? What would real honesty with God look like right now? 

3. In what areas is your “old self” still putting up a fight against the new self in Christ? 

4. How does the truth that God made you His righteousness (not based on your performance) change how you see your failures? 

5. What would it look like for you to live more “honest and real” this week — with God and with others?

Prayer 

Father, I’m tired of fake. I’m tired of singing words I don’t fully live. I’m failing. My sin feels like glue that won’t come off. I stumble and I fall way too often.

But I thank You that You didn’t wait for me to become perfectly lovable before You declared me righteous. You gave me life when I should’ve been dead. You live in me to make me someone not me.

Help me be honest and real with You. Help me stop pretending. When I fall, remind me I’m not what I do — I’m what You say I am.

I’m looking forward to the day when all this struggle is done and I finally become what is, not what I feel. Until then, keep working on me. Seal my wandering heart to You.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Closing 

Be real. Be honest. Stop pretending.

God already knows the truth about you — and He still calls you His child.

Love God. Love your neighbor. And be honest and real while you do it.