It has been several months and many of us may still not be any closer to getting comfortable with wearing face masks. They are mandated and become a fixture of our culture in fighting against COVID-19.
However, there seems to be another “mask” that we could be wearing in addition to the physical ones over our nose and mouth. I am talking about a face covering that many put on in an attempt to cover their true spiritual condition.
Whether motivated by fear, embarrassment or a general feeling of inadequacy, the temptation to put on a spiritual “face mask” can be very enticing. The reason is because hiding the ugly truth of our spiritual state makes us instantly feel better. Perhaps, if we have it on long enough, go through the motions convincing enough, and say all the right things, others “won’t notice” and think “all is well.”
Hiding behind theses “masks,” we feel better now that others cannot see the truth we are trying to keep locked up inside. We begin to believe that we are making progress in fooling everyone. We convince ourselves that we are following God’s plan for our life. And if we “play our cards right” we may even be able to hide the truth of our condition from God Himself…
How silly it is to think we can hide anything from God. Just remembering the words from Proverbs should be enough to curtail that! Proverbs 5:21, “For your ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines all your paths.”
In reality, putting on a spiritual face mask accomplishes little more than a hamster running inside a wheel. And for what? All of the effort, all of the sweat, all of the anxiety and stress, all of the deception only achieves complete exhaustion and possibly even more issues and problems to deal with. In the end, we soon realize that we have gotten no further ahead and all we have managed to do is go around and around in circles.
The Truth is none of our spiritual face masks will stand the test of time. God’s Word plainly tells us about this in Hebrews 4:13, “There is no creature hidden from God’s sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”
In fact, Jesus Himself spoke about this in Matthew 10:26 when He said, “there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and nothing hidden that will not be known.” What a sobering thought - That the God of the universe knows it all! He knows what lies behind each spiritual face mask. He knows the condition of our very hearts.
The good news and the reason that Jesus came and died on The Cross, was buried in a tomb and rose back to life on the third day, is so that we do not have to put on spiritual face masks anymore.
In Mark 8:34 we read that Jesus called the people to Himself and said, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Jesus came so that…“whoever”…might have the opportunity to find their true worth and value in Him. Not in the strength of their spiritual face masks…but in Him!
In Christ alone, all of us have the same opportunity to step off of “life’s hamster wheel” and, as Hebrews 12:1, reminds us: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.”
Knowing our worth and encouraging each other in our faith is what discipleship is all about! Together, you and I are helping others find freedom in Christ by taking off their spiritual face masks. We are showing them that they too can “be strong in the Lord and the power of His might.” (Ephesians 6:10).
Through worship, Bible studies, accountability, prayer groups, missions, outreach, home visits and other means of personal and corporate outreach, we are sharing Christ’s love and freedom with those who are tired of wearing spiritual face masks.
My prayer is that God would continue to use us to impact the world for Him. That in everything we do, Christ’s name would be lifted high and the world would be changed as a result. That those who are still lost would choose to let Jesus take off their spiritual face masks. That they would accept God’s grace, through faith, by placing their faith and trust in Jesus for salvation.
That’s a great reason to take off those masks!