The Masks We Wear Dr. James P. Noll, PhD Many people in Church today are not what they appear to be. Although there are people who do not put up these â€false frontsâ€, there is an alarming trend going on in the church. Why do we as people change the way we act when we are in church? For instance, someone comes up to you and asks how you are, instead of telling them the truth, you simply say â€fine.†You chat a while and they leave. Even though you are feeling lonely and afraid. Perhaps you didn't want to appear to be â€weak and fragile†because you are a â€CHRISTIAN†and Christians are never weak or afraid. Then there is the person, and we've all seen them, who appear to be â€super spiritualâ€, always saying â€Oh, praise the Lord†or â€The Lord says thus and so..†or â€the Bible says..†all while talking to someone. These people want to make other people think that they are more spiritual or knowledgeable that they think you think think they are. This kind of manipulation does nothing for the body of Christ and is actually a hindrance to the work of the Holy Spirit. Some have said that this is actually a â€Jezebel Spirit†at work. The heart of this is actually getting down to what is real. I made this mistake at a small group one night. I was talking to another author who has quite a bit more experience with writing than I do. He was telling me that the book I wrote (â€Where Did The Prophets Go?â€) was jam-packed with a lot of stuff and said it was well written. I inadvertently said â€Give God the Glory†to which he replied â€That's B*ll Sh*t, just say thank you...â€. In a nervous moment and not sure what to say, I started laughing at what he said. Looking back, I don't quite know what he was thinking. I imagine that he must of thought I was guilty of â€false humilityâ€. If I was, it was totally unintentional. In my mind, I was merely trying to give God the glory because I know how I write and the book was not written the way I normally write. So as you can see, there are people out there who do watch for this and will bring it to the surface. So then how do we combat this in the church. Well, for one thing, Pastors need to teach about this and encourage people to be vulnerable at the right time. The Bible teaches us â€To let your â€yes†be YES and your â€no†be NOâ€. What does this mean? It means to â€tell it like it is†not how you want it to look like, i.e, don't paint a rosy picture when your world is falling apart. A caveat here, make sure when you bear up your heart that you do so to people who you know you can trust, people who you are certain wont go blabbing it around the church. Gossipers are a poison in the church and have ruined many a life with the so called â€social networking†which is actually gossiping. People who are guilty of mask wearing need special attention. Some people are afraid to let other people know who they really are. This may be caused by many factors including upbringing and early onset socialization dysfunction. Some people actually, intentionally attempt to deceive others to try and get â€higher up†in the social ranks of the church. I knew of one man who always kept complementing people and trying to â€schmooze†then along so they would do things for him. When he would come up to me he would say things like: â€Hey, Big Jim, heh, you look like one of those millionaires in that shirt, alright Jim the Millionaire!†Minutes later he was asking me for money thinking that he â€prelude†was effective. Not so. I encourage all of you to watch out for the things you say. Start with you. Then when you have your mask down, then encourage others to do the same. We see this mask wearing and deception when Peter tells Jesus that he shouldn't go to the cross (trying to appear holy). Jesus rebuked him calling him â€Satan†and to get behind him. We must we wary of the schemes of the wicked one, he has influence over those who are unaware. In closing, I just want to say that Jesus wants us to â€get real†about our lives and our relationship with Him. We need to come to him just as we are and not how we â€think†He wants to see us. He sees right through our masks and the masks of those we know and love. If you need help in this get involved in a group that deals with this subject. You may find that you grow tremendously.
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