Spoken Word: The Christian Façade

We all wear different masks.

There’s no point in denying it—we do.

We have a mask for our jobs…so we can be professional and demand respect.

We have a mask for strangers…so we can protect ourselves and evaluate whom we trust.

We have a mask for dating,

            For parents,

            For friends,

            For extended family,

            For teachers…

We have a mask for everything.

Sometimes it’s necessary. Sometimes it’s even good. Acceptable.

But let me ask you this:

Why do we have a mask for the Christian life?

If you really stop and think about it, it’s completely ridiculous.

Jesus, the Son of God, hung on a cross.

            Mutilated

            Shamed

            Ridiculed

            Broken

            Scarred

            Bleeding

            Gasping for breath

            KILLED…

By our sins.

No one is exempt.

Do we really get that? Our sins are the cause of the crucifixion. The things we do everyday. Our human failings.

We talk about it all the time—we say the jargon. We thank God for saving us from our sins—but still we cower behind a façade of purity and perfection.

Surely here, among other saved sinners should be the place where the mask comes

OFF;

Not where it is secured more tightly.

Surely, here is where we can lift our heads in confidence and sweet acknowledgement of our Savior’s sacrifice without lathering makeup over our souls.

Surely, here we can come together in Christ without applying a foundation of

“I’m great,”

brightening our spiritual cheeks with phrases like

“I don’t struggle with anything, really”

or

“Nothing to share at the moment.”

Caked-on layers. Caked-on lies.

Caked-on crap.

We ALL struggle. We ALL sin.

Every. Single. Day.

When are we going to strip away the lifeless versions of ourselves that we parade in front of other believers? Why do we feel this insatiable need to look normal?

We are NOT normal.

We have been saved by the insurmountable grace of God. We have been rescued from the pit of hell and given a new name, a new life, a new identity in Him.

There is NOTHING normal about us.

So why pretend?

When are we going to open up about our sins and our struggles…and allow the body of Christ to lift us up when we can’t lift up our masks any longer?

Sin comes in all shapes. It plays out in all scenes of life.

Maybe it’s a teenage boy—or girl—who cries themselves to sleep every night because the laptop on their desk lures them into a pornographic jail cell they can’t escape from. 

Maybe it’s the wife who can’t look her husband in the eye because she has another lover…someone who cares, who notices, who listens…and she desperately wants to run away from responsibility, from promises…and start over.

Maybe it’s the pastor who is preaching empty, meaningless sermons that he struggled to write because the Lord stopped speaking years ago…but he could never admit it.

Maybe it’s the girl who has never had a dad and cannot understand the love of a Father who will never leave…so she turns to other men to fill the yawning chasm of abandonment in her life, again and again and again, hoping for fulfillment but finding deeper loneliness.

Maybe it’s the child who has grown up in the church, thrust in the spotlight, always on display—but inwardly seething, rebelling, hating…and promising to walk away from it all as soon as the chance comes along.

Maybe it’s the Christian who sits in church every Sunday, diligently reads the Bible, and at home, cries out in anger to the Lord because they love their gender and they know it’s wrong…but the attraction remains.

Not one of us has been spared. We can all sit and stare at the overwhelming heap of our pasts; the avalanche of

            Guilt

            Fear

            Shame

            Hurt

            Pain

            Heartache

            Embarrassment

            Revulsion

            Anger

            Denial                                                                                                                      
            Lies

            Excuses

            Secret

            Desires &

            Urges;

All of which threaten to cave in and destroy us…and even worse, expose us.

There’s no question that in the church you belong to, there is at least one person who fits each of these descriptions.

People next to you who are hurting, desperately crying out for help behind the mask they valiantly wear day after day.

But the masks are growing heavy, and it’s time for them to come off.

Who will join me in removing the mask of Christian perfection that pervades our faith, our church and our future as the body of Christ?

Who will be the first to drop the dramatics?

Jesus said, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.”

But He could just as easily say,

“Let him who is without sin keep their mask in place.”

When a brother or sister is lying in the dirt of their pasts, ashamed and broken and exposed to the world for what they are…

A sinner—

Will we stand around and hope that we are not found out for our own mistakes?

Or will we kneel beside them, remove our masks of pretention and pompous piety and bask in the glorious rays of His forgiveness and grace, all of us freely admitting our sin and working together to start again?

It’s time to accept who we are.

Sinners miraculously redeemed…

But sinners who still struggle everyday.

Let’s begin a revolution of vulnerability and genuine love for one another.

Let’s begin a revolution of Real.