Excerpt
Truth or Mask
Telling the absolute truth is challenging to most people. That is why people lie, stretch the truth, and embellish. This is all done in an effort to save face and to create the desired image of how they want to be perceived by the world. Telling the truth would reveal how incredibly selfish and sometimes ugly their motives, intentions, and actions really are. It would expose who they really are and eradicate the established image they tirelessly worked to create.
People create masks to cover up their sins, bad choices, and embarrassing moments because of how they want to be perceived. All people, including church folks, are guilty of this. This cover up does not help edify the body of Christ. The body of Christ is composed of Christians. The Christian body is a family. The blood of Christ unifies us. We should support, share, help, love, confess, forgive, and correct one another in love.
Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. Romans12: 4-5 (NIV)
If everyone is wearing perfected masks and hiding behind a false image of perfection, then they are ineffective at building up the body of Christ. These masks actually have a repelling quality for most unbelievers. I have heard unbelievers say, “I’ll come to church after I get myself together.” or, “I don’t know if I can stay saved because of this or that.” This is said in response to how some Christians are perceived. Many unbelievers’ feel as if they cannot give their life to Christ until they somehow perfect themselves. THIS IS A LIE!!! This is how the enemy deceives the unsaved. It is an effective tool used by the devil to keep unbelievers from giving their lives to Christ. It is Christ who cleanses the sinner.
Those responses are directly related to how the patrons of the church are perceived. The perception is either, that church folks have made all the right choices and decisions since they met Jesus, or they are fakes. The truth is this: Christians fall down and get up daily. How can we help one another if we are all pretending to be perfected? Christian’s testimonies are priceless. They are encouraging and absolutely necessary components for building up the body of Christ. They give people hope and a point of reference. I’m not suggesting that you start airing your dirty laundry, but if opportunity presents itself, tell the truth of your experience through your testimony in order to build up and edify the body of Christ.
The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. Lamentations 3:22-23 (NLT)
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:16 (NIV)
The beauty in is in the getting up, and maybe even helping someone else not to fall. This is accomplished through your testimony. James 5:16 says, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”(NIV) The truth of a shared, personal experience has the potential to encourage, guide, and protect others. The truth is liberating and continuing in truth can set people free.
Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32 (NLT)
Satan is a liar! John 8:44 reads, “For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.”(NLT) Satan strongly encourages everyone to lie and feels justified in doing so. It is easy for Satan to get people to lie because no one wants to share their dirty laundry anyway. Lies are heavy and they are hard to keep up with. Once our enemy gets us to lie, cover up, or sin, he uses the same lies and sin to hold us captive. After awhile, telling the truth seems nearly impossible, but God’s Word tells us that everything done in the dark will come to the light and God will judge.
So don’t make judgments about anyone ahead of time before the Lord returns. For he will bring our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due. I Corinthians 4:5 (NLT)
When someone lies, they do it to save face to preserve their image. Self-preservation used in this way is a basic human response, but it is not a characteristic of Christ and simply has no place in the body of Christ. Let’s give that some thought. Self-preservation, in and of itself, is based on selfishness. As it states in Matthew 16:25, “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.”(KJV) Self-preservation only has the potential to preserve one. However, the truth has the power to set others free as well. Being transformed into the image of Christ is a daily process. Even Christians, who are in committed relationships with God, still make bad choices. Christians are not perfect, yet they are striving for perfection. I strongly believe that Christians should be more transparent and truthful in sharing their experiences, whether good or bad, ups or downs. In doing this, they would expose the tricks and maneuvers of Satan, and help to equip other saints for spiritual warfare. Doing this would make every Christian more useful for the kingdom and help others avoid the same pitfalls.
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