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LIVING BEHIND A MASK
by: Pastor Ryan Throop
Would you rather be rich or famous?
Would you rather lose your sight or your hearing?
How about this: Would you rather look like your parents or talk like them?
You probably didn't even realize it, but I proved a very important point just now. You see, every question led you to make a choice. Sure, the choices you just made maybe seemed silly, but the bottom line is that YOUR LIFE IS ALL ABOUT A CHOICE. Every day, you come face to face with literally hundreds of choices. The choice we're going to look at is the choice that we make every single day: Are you being real or someone else?
Many Christians spend their time living behind a "spiritual" mask. In other words, we say to ourselves, "when I'm around church people I need to put on my 'Christian Mask' and then when I get around my friends I can be myself." Sometimes, we get so used to putting on this mask, that we wear it all the time. Maybe we believe that it's easier to just put on a mask because when I'm wearing a mask I don't have to deal with what's behind the mask. If everyone around me believes that I'm the perfect Christian, then they won't bother me and I don't have to change.
Living behind a mask certainly isn't anything new. In Genesis 3:6-10 we find Adam and Eve trying to hide their sin before God. Verse 8 reads, "Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God." (NIV). They were ashamed because of their sin, so they tried to hide it by hiding from God. So many times, we wear a mask to try to hid from our sin. The bottom line: we can't hide from God.
If there's sin in your life, it's going to make you feel ashamed; that's what sin does. But, it's only when we become honest with ourselves, the others around us, and most importantly, God, that we're able to get rid of the masks we wear and live an AUTHENTIC LIFE.
Other Passages to Read: Genesis 3:6-10, Psalm 139:23- |
