Twelve-step groups teach that honesty is not just telling the truth, but the telling the ‘whole’ truth. Therefore, lying is not just failing to be truthful about facts. Leaving out key events, emotions, thoughts and details or leaving a person with a different impression other than what is right or what really happened is also lying. Often in the church community, people try to be nice and so the reason given for a particular decision may not be the real reason.  

Here is an example: A woman on the missions’ committee has no social skills. She is rude and as a result of her rudeness no one wants her to head committees or work with her any longer. However, when she is rejected from becoming the head of the committee, she is told another, more palatable reason, so as to not ruffle any feathers. This lack of honesty with someone dealing with a very obvious problem (which everyone else can see) makes the sexual struggler that much more reluctant to share his story.  Why?  Because the underlying message they hear is “We can’t handle the truth here.” These short-cuts or lies, the Bible calls them, end up short-changing spiritual growth. In the effort to avoid conflict we fail to really love. Honesty creates the environment where honest revelations of the heart can grow. Honesty is the best policy because as Proverbs says, “the wounds of a friend are better than the kisses of an enemy.” 

You help someone open up about a hidden truth by being and becoming someone who is honest, first, about yourself. You don’t hide your issues or struggles; you speak openly and plainly about them. With others, you consistently practice telling them what you see in their lives and in their behavior, and in doing so, you create a place of safety for the sexual struggler. They know you are a real person, someone with inner strength; that you are someone who can handle the truth because you love them.   

2. Make humility a central part of your character
The Bible instructs us that we are not to think of ourselves more highly than we actually are. Jesus on many occasions attacked the Pharisees because they placed themselves in a better light than that which was true. They were always more spiritual than those who followed them and they wanted everyone to know it. 

If you want to be someone who is a safe haven to receive honest revelations of the heart, you must have an attitude of humility, starting with you first. There is an old joke about a pastor who was walking through the sanctuary and felt God’s presence. He knelt down at the front near the altar and began to pray, crying out loud, “Lord, I’m nothing. I’m nothing. I’m nothing.” A short time later, the associate pastor was walking by and heard the pastor calling out, and he, too, was moved. He entered the sanctuary and knelt by the pastor and began to cry out, “Lord I’m nothing. I’m nothing. I’m nothing.” As it happened the church custodian passed by a short time later and saw the two ministers. He, too, was moved and came to the front of the church and called out the same as the other two. About this time the associate pastor looked over at the pastor and said, “Look who thinks he’s nothing now.”  Pride takes many forms. The Bible instructs us that “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”