What does it mean to be open with God?

Tell me how you really feel

 

44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth,the son of Joseph.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered him,“Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

, ESV

 

Would you say that Nathanael was real with Jesus here? I know that I would; you see, Nathanael essentially insulted Jesus’ hometown.   When presented with the idea that anything good could come from such a lowly town as Nazareth, he balked at the very idea, simply out of habit! Nazareth was a poor town, ‘political figureheads’ and ‘religious leaders’ were not likely to arise from within its… ruins – the town was destroyed by the Assyrians at the fall of the Northern Kingdom around 720 BC, and never really recovered.

So, then, how did Jesus respond to Nathanael’s blatantly insulting statement? “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” His reply was really praise, with openness, and with exclamation! Take a moment and think about this – how often did Jesus respond to anyone with this amount of emphasis, short of major events?

It would seem to me that Jesus was rather pleased by Nathanael’s honesty, when he didn’t hold his tongue. Jesus was responding in kind to Nathanael’s comment; Nathanael was real about his shock that the Messiah could come from such a place as Nazareth, and he was not afraid to express it. Nathanael knew who he was, and he wasn’t trying to hide it from anyone, and his openness was welcomed by Christ in return.

Are you open with God?  Are you willing to listen when He responds?

states, “Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.”

How can we be real with God and with ourselves?