Earlier this week, WikiLeaks, a non-profit media organization, released a little over 250,000 classified state department documents.

The release is causing quite a stir, with many on the right calling for legal action, and one GOP Congressman, Peter King, asking that WikiLeaks be branded as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).

My understanding is that WikiLeaks believes the release of all these documents will help keep the federal government accountable, which will lead to a better government and a more open society.

I’m guessing there will be more surprising revelations to come, but from the small (and truthfully, it isn’t much) amount of research I’ve done to this point, it appears that most of the leaked documents present unvarnished comments by US State Department officials about world leaders, including the likes of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, and Muammar Kaddafi, the leader (and for many that’s not the word they would use) of Libya.

I hesitate to say too much about all this because I’m not here to make political comments. This isn’t a blog where I opine about my personal views on government, or offer critiques on current political issues. My goal is to make Scriptural and faith based comments on news that catches my eye. So there’s really no agenda here, other than to offer something that, Lord willing, will help in your faith-life.

I find all of this interesting because in the aftermath of these leaks, many are now discussing the issue of transparency. Defenders of WikiLeaks are convinced that increased transparency, through the disclosure of all these documents, will prove beneficial in the long run. Others disagree.

In fact, one article I read at newsweek.com directly addressed the matter of transparency. The Newsweek author, Christopher Dickey, questioned the notion that the plethora of classified records released by WikiLeaks will increase transparency within the federal government. He argued that the leaked documents will make it more difficult to have open and honest exchanges because diplomats will be tighter lipped about what they say, the government will distribute less classified documents, and highly sensitive materials may not even find their way into a computer at all.

All this talk of transparency reminds me of our God. Imagine if the Lord wasn’t transparent about our true spiritual condition after the Fall! Or what if Scripture left us wondering about our justification? What terrible, soul destroying confusion would result!

For sure, there are things that our Father in heaven does not tell us. But those things God has revealed--the truths of the Bible--they are as clear, or transparent, if you will, as looking through a clean, streak free, glass window!

Scripture says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path” (Psalm 119:105, NIV) and “The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple” (Psalm 19:7, NASB). An unclear book can’t serve as a lamp and a light. And withholding information won’t make simple people wise.

Yet even St. Peter says about the writings of the apostle Paul, “He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:16, NIV).

Well, Calculus—who am I kidding—Algebra is hard for me to understand, but it’s still clear. God’s Word may be complex, but still, it is clear; God does not hide the meaning of his words in unclear, ambiguous language.

That means the Lord is transparent with me about my need for a Savior. The Bible makes no secret about that fact that I am a sinner, condemned to hell for my sinful condition.

And God is transparent with me about his plan for my salvation. Our God doesn’t couch the truth in language that leaves me guessing about his love for me in Christ.

I’ll take that kind of transparency any day, even if it paints an unflattering picture about me and my own sinfulness! It’s that transparency, clear and completely honest, that tells me of my Father’s love, and gives me the sure hope that I am an heir of everlasting life.