Taking off the Mask

Religion or "churchianity" can feed us a lie that we need to be perfect, or well on our way, before God will accept us. I don’t know about you, but I believed this lie for years. Even after becoming a Christian, I very quickly fell into the guilt and shame trap if I messed up or sinned, believing I couldn’t come to the Lord until I had sorted myself out. I believed a lie that I should be walking pretty much sin-free from the day I became a Christian in order to be accepted by the Lord.

‘The Lord is near to all who call on Him in truth.’ In other words, He wants us to approach Him minus the mask of perfection and performance. I still remember vividly the evening I discovered this truth. I had always approached the Lord as I would have my headmaster at school, putting my best foot forward and trying to say all the right things. This one evening changed things forever for me.

Feeling misunderstood and judged by people in my life due to my circumstances at that time, I remember pouring out my heart to the Lord, holding nothing back, even expressing anger and using strong language about how I felt. I even blurted out ‘I suppose you’re going to drop me now too, just like everyone else’. I’d never spoken so candidly to the Lord with such raw unbridled emotion before.

He didn’t say anything, but suddenly I was acutely aware of His peace encompassing me and I was undone. Earlier in Psalm 145 verse 8 it states, ‘The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love’ and that evening, that truth went from being head knowledge to a heart encounter. What a precious truth that He is rich in love and longing to come near to us as we call on Him in truth.

Taking off the mask can feel vulnerable, but the safest place to do it is with our heavenly father. The enemy wants to keep us back from experiencing that level of intimacy by whispering lies in our ear to keep us from talking to the Lord about whatever it is that is going on. God knows what we’re thinking and feeling anyway, so we might as well bring it to Him and be transparent. Verse 14 in the same psalm states, ‘He lifts up all who are bowed down’. As we humbly come before Him in truth, He picks us up again and gets us pointed in the right direction.