There a lot of people that are wearing the Christian mask. It’s a mask that says that “nothing is wrong” and that “you are feeling close to God” and “enjoying your walk with Christ”. Take off your mask and b real. If you got an issue, confess it. Thats what brothers and sisters in Christ are for. Children wear masks at Halloween... The rest of us seem to wear masks everyday of the year. The outside world looks at the church and they see right through that mask. They see hypocrisy. They see fear, lonlyness, anger and the rest of the very human issues that the rest of the world has. When they see you try to hide it, it doesn’t communicate faith in Jesus Christ. Rather it communicates the opposite; that you feel you need to hide your problems to be accepted.
Genesis 2:24-25 NKJV
Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Think about this statement in todays time... If you were suddenly found naked in front of others, you would feel_____. Fill in the blank. Many words fit but not many would say unashamed. Think about new borns as they are born naked knowing not and caring not. But as hey grow, there is a switch at some point when this nakedness bcomes known and we no lnger feel right with that. As an adult we can think about this in a spiritual and emotional sense. We are seen the same by others whether we try to hide who we are or not. The only thing that changes is how we see ourself. When we feel that others see us or may see us, we pull out a mask that hides those parts of our lives that we don’t want anyone to see. We fear what others will surely dissaprove or not fully accept us, or look down on us. We simply dont want to be vulnetable and expossed.
Genesis 3:6-7 NKJV
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
These four words that haunt men... "who was with her?". You’ll notice that Adam chooses his wife over God and that he also then became passive. Two huge mistakes we still make today. We seek approval from our spouse over approval from God. We still today make the wrong choice to become passive in what we should actively be deciding from what God has taught us. But here in these verses we see shame enter in as a result from sin. We still put on this shame today and we imediately seek to cover shame with a mask. We put on the "everything is fine" mask to fool the world. Nothing changed about Adam and Eve from before their sin to after their sin. Adam didn’t suddenly gain a beer gut and become ashamed. No, he was the same person before as after only now he realized more about himself. He realized wear his heart was and he was ashamed.
Mask management leaves a heart empty. Putting on a fake front for others will only leave you empty. You may have a new years resolution that is only about how others view you.. If this is your motivation, then you are still going to be hiding behind a mask that hides who you are on the inside. You can’t be empty on the inside and think that a better body will change your empty heart... Nope. Still empty That aside, if you have a resolution to improve your health for you, then I wish you the best in that.
Still the same person inside? You’ll simply keep seeking out different mask until you are ready to show the inside. The heart of who you are. No mask or fig leave will ever be enough.
Genesis 3:8 NKJV
And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
You cannot hide from God. You cannot hide who you are from the world forever. It will destroy you. You will think less and less of yourself. What are you hiding from? Are you hiding somethimg from the world? From God? Everything is going to come out one day. Be real. Fellowship. Let someone know. Become confident that you are accepted fully in Christ. Dont hide. GOD SEES YOU.
Genesis 3:9 NKJV
Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
When God asked Adam, "where are you?” he already knew just as he knows where you are but he wants you to realize why you are hiding and recognize the lack of need to hide from God. What are you hiding and what are you hiding from? Where do you think you are hiding it? Is facebook your place to put on a mask? Are you being fake on facebook? Myspace? Don’t perpetuate your ability to put on masks. Don’t dress up your life regardless of where you are. Don’t wear masks regardless of the area you put it on. Everyone does it but the hope is that you would now remember that you are doing it and then choose to stop. Be who you are. People will view your honest relationship with Christ and if you act like everything is ok, how will they understand if they become saved and everything isn’t actually all hunky dory? Will they think they are doing something wrong or will they realize how fake you are being. Either is bad. The example we are is not how great we are in Christ, but how great He is in us... in our weakness... in our imperfection. No masks are needed for this. We can be real, we can be vulnerable so that not only will the world see our need for Christ and that we go to Him but also our brothers and sisters can see our needs and help us and the entirity of the body of Christ will work better this way. When it’s real.
Despite how bad Adam and Eve where in doing the one thing God told them not to do... God still pursued them. And no matter what you have done in your life; no matter what you struggle with, God is still persuing you. He still loves you and wants you in the body of Christ.
Genesis 3:21 NKJV
Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.
And so for the first time in history we see a blood sacrifice made because of sin. An animal had to die because of Adam and Eve’s sin. Just as today we know that because of our sin Jesus (the Lamb of God) died on the cross covering our sins; our shame, with His righteous blood. We, like Adam and Eve have been covered and have no need to be ashamed. We can be real and throw away our masks. We can let the world see that we have problems, that we mess up too and that we have a need and a want to come to the foot of the cross for our forgiveness; that we share with brothers and sisters and we recieve help from our issues and we are encouraged not condemned. We can show our weakness and become strong in Christ... not a mask.
No comments:
Post a Comment