Unmasked

We often speak of wearing a mask, or even having many different faces. So many of us are one person for one set of friends and then we change our mask and we are someone completely different for the next set of friends. We work so hard to be a certain person or to at least appear to be a certain person that we often loose sight of ourselves. We wear the mask so often and for so long that we begin to become the mask. So much so that we are afraid to take off the mask, even when we are alone. Why can’t we just be real? Why can’t we just let the opinions and expectations of others fall away to be replaced by those of God? Why not focus on Him and allow Him to peel the mask away and reveal the beauty of what’s underneath?

And what happens if we do that? What happens when we allow His light to shine wholly on our face? From my own experience I can tell you that we try to hide certain things. We don’t want the whole mask to fall away or the light to shine on the entire room. We shove things under the bed or stuff them in the closet. The Bible tells us that whatever is hidden in the darkness will be brought into the light at the end of time. So, why do we prolong the inevitable? I know that the darkness can be comfortable and the idea of revealing the dirt, so to speak, is frightening. But, that’s what we are called to do. And by letting go of our own expectations and letting the world know that Christians are human and it’s all by His grace that we are saved, all this brings us a freedom like none other! We are free to love by sharing life with each other, instead of wasting our energy on a life of striving to meet unreasonable standards. What a different world it would be if we were all completely transparent with ourselves and each other?!