Take The Mask Off!

Over the past 18 months masks have become a part of our lives whether we agree with them or not, we have had to wear them at some point as we have navigated a worldwide pandemic and its public health mandates.

Today is Halloween and many people will choose to wear a mask today to attend a party or to collect candy from their neighbors.

El Santo

Unlike most sports, pro wrestling is unconcerned with numbers. Nobody seems to have a win-loss record. In lucha libre, the truly important matches, the bouts that make up one’s official record, are not even world championships. They are, rather, Mask vs. Mask matches. Luchadores wager their masks on the outcome of a fight. The mask is a serious wager. When a wrestler is defeated and unmasked, his face is seen by the public for the first time. His name and his birthplace are published in the papers. His mask, which symbolized his honor, is retired and cannot be used again.

“El Santo” kept his mask in inside and outside of the ring for 40 years. In fact he was never seen out and about “out of character”. As Christians we need to commit to taking off our masks!

For years I wore a mask of sorts, I was a clown. Not the kind you see today, the ones that give you the heebie jeebies. I was the clown that would run around a circus tent doing prat falls and slap stick. It is amazing how much I personally changed in the two hours that it took to put on my makeup, wig, nose and costume. The person that came out to perform was completely different than the person I was in real life.

Some of you might remember the 1994 Jim Carey movie, “The Mask”. I remember, because we saw it on the date that Wendy fell in love with me… The premise was that the mask didn't change you, it only amplified who you were.

Oscar Wilde says it this way, “Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.”

Masks embolden you because it feels like people don’t see you, but the truth is found in Hebrews 4:13

Hebrews 4:13 ESV

And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Naked and Afraid

The truth is most of us fear being exposed. We don’t like to be challenged or called out… They have made a whole franchise of horror movies based on the fact that we would like to keep our deeds secret. Facing the truth about ourselves can be uncomfortable. It’s hard to admit that the real reason we were so nice to someone was because we wanted to get something from them. Or, that we may be smiling and congratulating a coworker for their promotion, but on the inside we think we deserve it more than they do. If you pull back the mask and get honest with yourself, that’s when you can deal with the hidden issues that hold you back—the motives, the pride, the jealousy, the insecurity.

But truthfully God knows us and still loves us.

Psalm 139:1–6 ESV

O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.

Paul believed in playing with his cards in the open...

2 Corinthians 4:2 The Message

We refuse to wear masks and play games. We don’t maneuver and manipulate behind the scenes. And we don’t twist God’s Word to suit ourselves. Rather, we keep everything we do and say out in the open, the whole truth on display, so that those who want to can see and judge for themselves in the presence of God.

We Hide from others but God Knows us

Are you wearing masks today? The apostle Paul says our lives should be open books. We’re not wearing masks, thinking one thing and saying another. We’re not perfect, but we’re dealing with the issues. We’re not pretending. We’re real. What you see is what you get. When you live openly and honestly, God will make you and mold you into a vessel of honor and use you for His highest purposes.

Wearing a Mask is Exhausting

It is exhausting to pretend...

There is No Victory Without Struggle

1 Peter 4:12 ESV

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

Becoming like Jesus requires struggle!

New Identity

2 Corinthians 3:12–18 ESV

Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

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