Rod Tucker

I read Uncovered: The Truth about Honesty and Community by Rod Tucker, in exchange for honest review from Kregel Blog Tours.

The book teaches about how Christians can fake a moral living and can be self-deceptive. The back of the book says "we don't want anyone to know we are spiritually named, but covering up around God denies us the life he has meant for us."

One of the first things, which stood out in the book was "honesty is an introduction to something much more powerful and intimate: relationships bred by transparency" (p. 19). The next paragraph discusses how we should live in the light versus the darkness. Darkness hides things, which we don't want others (or ourselves to see). On the other hand, living in the light allows healing, transparency, and honesty.

For me, I am a usually blunt-honest person, but I don't like revealing everything to everyone. It takes a while for me to open up to people and be vulnerable. My pastor, last week in church, was talking about how we can't be vulnerable to everyone. Just a few intimate people. The wrong person can/will/may take advantage of the situation. I also struggle with trusting people with intimate details. Will they judge me? Still be my friend/acquaintance? Rub the information in my face?

The book also teaches how we need to be honest with ourselves and others about our sins. Instead of working around the truth, when talking to others--we can be open and honest about our flaws and sins. If you are struggling, say you are struggling with an issue. If you used to do something, say so. Tucker had said sometimes people say they have overcome an issue, while still struggling with the issue. One major struggle is sexual struggle, which is one of my weaknesses. Even though I am not having sex right now, I still struggle in other areas.

I also like chapter 3, which discusses sewing, hiding, and blaming. In Genesis, Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree. When they realized they was naked, they sewed some leaves together to hide nakedness; hid from God; and blamed each other and the snake. They lost their freedom and innocence. They lied to God. The couple was also banned from the garden and had to work harder until death. Tucker says people do the same thing. We sew leaves on our bodies to hide our shame and nakedness. We hide ourselves from others. We pretend we are ok, but we are not. Finally, we blame others for our mistakes to make ourselves still feel good.

To have a better relationship with God, we need to be completely open and honest with ourselves, others, and especially God. We can't fake and pretend anymore :-).… (altro)