Two Roads: Please God, Or Trust Him?Muestra

Most of us will, if challenged, admit to wearing masks. We don’t like our masks, necessarily, but we have no idea how to take them off. 

That’s why revealing the origins of our masks is so important. When we sin, or when someone else sins against us, we automatically respond. If we commit the sin, our automatic response is called guilt. If someone sins against us, our automatic response is called hurt. God graciously designed these two responses to signal that something wrong has happened, that our hearts are disrupted and need healing. 

Most of us don’t know what to do with these internal responses, though. Like Adam and Eve, we feel naked, so we hide or override our guilt and hurt. In the moment, it seems like necessary self-preservation. But remaining in that choice creates unresolved sin in our lives, whether it was sin we committed or sin done against us. This unresolved sin drives us to fashion more masks, to hide who we’re afraid we are.

The greatest hope for any mask-wearer is in understanding all masks eventually crumble, because they are man-made.

This is a good thing. Imagine if the mask didn’t crack. It would forever separate us from love, authenticity, and freedom. Our endlessly loving God allows our masks to fall apart because He cares so deeply for us.

Once we weary enough of mask-wearing, we can begin rediscovering the true face of Jesus. Jesus will always nudge us further out into the open, allowing our true faces to be revealed. Our true faces are beautiful, too. God made them exactly the way He wanted, and He longs to see His reflection.

Each of us will be tempted to return to our masks each time we lose the confidence of our new identity. Daring to trust who Christ says we are, who He says He is in us, even when we feel we least deserve it and the old shame sweeps over us—this is the only way to keep the mask off, to keep feeling the cool breeze on our faces.