The Most Honest “To Be Honest”.

Being accepted is something that even the most rebellious and independent person still finds important. Even those who choose to be outcasts want to be accepted by their group of outcasts. I didn’t always get along with my peers, but even when I did not necessarily want to be like them, wanting to be different and unique, I always wanted to be liked by them.

We reach out for this feeling of belonging in so many different ways. This feeling that those around us “get us”, like us, and find attractive qualities in us. Maybe you want to be the funny one, the athletic one, the beautiful one, the musical one, or the geeky one. Whatever you want to be you want your friends to know you that way, to accept you that way, and to praise you for being that way. Am I wrong?

Facebook is one of the big ways that we try to get people to like us and be our friends, both literally and with buttons. We want to sign in and have 10 notifications pop up. Someone liked our status,your friend commented on your new photo album, your classmate posted a funny link to your wall, and someone left you a really nice TBH.

This is what we want from our Facebook, this is what we crave. We want people not only to notice us, but engage with us. Like us. Friend us.

Of course, when we reach out for the attention that we long for, that we feel like we need in order to survive emotional, when we try to find that emotional stability from our peers, from our family, from our fellow humans, we feel shorted. They fall short. After all, none of us are perfect. And as we are struggling to be noticed and appreciated we must realize that the people we are talking to are also trying to get that from us.

“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” – Stephen R. Covey

So why do we look to people who will eventually fail us? Even the most caring, attention, and well meaning friend is going to have days where they will be silent or distant. There will be times when they will not be paying attention to you because another priority arises.

So who can we look to? Who will be our constant? As humans, this desire, this deep, seeded programming, it has to come from some where. How can we full this need? For some, those are loaded questions and you have already jumped ahead to the answer. Yes, from God.

Earlier I referenced getting a TBH on Facebook. TBH, or To Be Honest, is a craze going around on Facebook. (I talk about it, and other Facebook fads in another post as well.) But to sum it up quickly, if I were to write “TBH” as my Facebook status and you were to click the “Like” button, then I am now obligated to go on your wall and write a To Be Honest statement. Usually it is something nice about liking your hair, your smile, your personality, or stating that we should hang out more.

It is a great way to pass a compliment, but do they really fill our need to be desired and accepted? Do we really believe them when someone comments that they think we are pretty? I already mentioned before that people will fail. We are sinful. We can lie and we can deceive. Our opinions are just that, opinions, our own way of thinking.

If you are look for some TBH’s that are more than just a nice sentence, if you are looking for something true, for something that comes from someone who really knows and loves you, well then look no further.

TBH. You are wonderful! Your body is perfect. I love the way you look. – Psalm 139: 14-16

TBH. You are so awesome I would give anything to hang out more. – John 3:16

TBH. You are strong. I love how you can overcome anything. – Romans 8:37-39

TBH. I wish we would hang out more. You mean a lot to me. – Luke 15

TBH. Love you! You are just precious. – Isaiah 43:4

TBH. If I had to pick you over money, I would pick you. Your like a treasure to me! – Malachi 3:17

And to be honest, there are many more great verses that I forgot or did not find. All of these is God pouring out the love and acceptance that He created us to crave. Sin has turned this craving into an earthly thing, into a desire for others to like us, into a misunderstanding of what it means to be loved.

There are times where I see a TBH argued. The persons replies, “Silly you, I will never believe I am pretty” or “You liked my hair? It looked awful that day”. Sometimes other people see a beauty in us that we cannot believe or understand. It is easy to refute the statement. It is just as easy to ignore Gods.

How harsh is that? The face that the most honest of the To Be Honest. The most truthful friend that we will have. We still have a hard time believing His words. To be honest, you should believe it.

Do you have a Bible verse that would make a great TBH from God?