Wearing
a Mask
People
outside of the church think church go-ers are hypocrites.
Preachers
ask church members to be real with one another and to those who come to the
Lord’s house to worship.
Leaders
in the church ask church members to step up and participate in groups, get to really know fellow church members, and reach out a helping hand to our brothers and
sisters in Christ.
Paul
had to write to Timothy and remind him to not be fearful or timid, to not be
ashamed of his testimony about God, and to remember the Holy Spirit gives us a
spirit of power, love, and sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)
Scripture
says to confess our trespasses to one another and to pray for one another (James
5:16).
Somehow
we all still treat church as a place ‘to go’. A place to go dressed up in our very
best clothes with fake smiles and false ‘I’m doing well today’. We do this all
to hide the ‘worst’ of our selves. The part of ourselves that we’re afraid
others may not like or understand. We cover up our struggles. We hide the
truth. We wear masks.
Why do
we continually choose to wear masks? Why do we hide our true selves? As John
writes in 1 John 1:5 ‘God is light and in him is no darkness at all.’ John
continues to explain ‘If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and
the truth is not in us.’ 1 John 1:8 In other words, when you say that you’re
fine even though you’re really struggling, you’re putting on a fake mask and
hiding behind it. God doesn’t want us hidden behind a mask. God didn’t send His
only Son to die on the cross for our sins so we could lie to our brothers and
sisters in Christ and not be hones about our struggles. Also, God definitely
did not allow the Holy Spirit to dwell inside us, so that we could cover it up
with our Sunday best, our fake ‘Good mornings’, and all our other masks.
Look
at the Armor of God. (Ephesians 6:10-18). There was no mask in there! I don’t think that is a
coincidence. Do you?
Love this!
ReplyDeleteIt's so true. We are all guilty of wearing masks especially at church or in any situation where we want to impress others. Being open and honestly truthful would be much more attractive.