Tuesday, February 1, 2005
1 John 1:8-9 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
THE MASK
You Billy Joel fans might remember this line: " ... we all have a face that we hide behind forever ..." Even if you don't remember it, I think you understand the songwriter's message. People spend their lives putting up a front, pretending their someone they're really not. People spend their lives hiding behind a mask.
Why do we wear a mask? To conceal our true identity. To hide our shame. We don't want anyone else to see what we know is behind the mask. Years of failures. Moments of great weakness. Horrible sins we keep locked up so that no one can see. Red-faced shame over how we've treated the ones we love the very most. Murderous thoughts, filthy lusts, hearts that have turned away from God again and again. All this lies just beneath the surface.
But by wearing a mask, we seal ourselves away from God! We become self-dependent and self-righteous, which can only lead to eternal self-destruction!
God does not want this to happen to us! So God works to get us to give up our masks -- to quit the game of trying to conceal our sin and shame. What God does is very painful to us. Through the preaching of His Law -- His Ten Commandments -- His Dos and Don'ts -- He forces us to look at ourselves. With the Law God rips the mask off of our faces and makes us see the truth about ourselves. As God's Word says: "Whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced" (Romans 3:19). God is telling us no more excuses. No more rationalizing our behavior. No more shame-driven promises to do better. No more hiding. No more deceiving ourselves. Just be honest. Just say it: "I am a sinner. By nature flawed from birth, inclined to evil and selfishness. Apart from Christ, I am dead and worthless before God!"
Now, as baptized and forgiven sinners, as God's children, you and I can celebrate a new image. The mask has been replaced! By the power of the Holy Spirit, working through the Word, the image of God's Son has been stamped upon you and me! When God looks at us He sees the sinless life of Christ. When God looks at us, He sees someone holy like Himself. Not that we are holy in ourselves, but because of Christ's holy life and substitutionary death for all people, when God sees us He sees Jesus!
What a blessed thing is it to be free of the suffocating mask of sin cover-up! What a happy life to wear the image of Jesus -- to be accepted by God with no strings attached -- to find joy in letting go of self, and simply living for God and others! 