Masks – The Arrow Preacher

Don The Mask Again

There are all kinds of reasons people wear masks. They don’t want the world to see them as they are. They want to hide a part of themselves. They want to blend in. More often than not a mask is used to hide very real pain deep down. Are we ashamed of ourselves or at the very least a part of ourselves? Do we feel we are insignificant? Do we hide the struggle within because we are afraid how the world will react?

It’s the last one I’d like to focus on today. Are we a Christian society that lifts up or do we tear down? Do we show people love and compassion, or do we sew hate and disgust? The truth is, when asked how we are doing, the number one answer is an ambiguous ‘I’m fine’. So many people use sarcasm or misdirection to hide the true nature of their feelings, myself included.

Growing up, I loved Halloween because it gave me the chance one night a year to be anyone else. I was able to dress up and hide my identity and be anything else, albeit for one night only. The truth is, not much has changed in all those years. I still enjoy dressing up and being someone else for a night or two, or maybe as an adult I’ve found a few more nights a year to dress up, but the mask I wear as an adult isn’t to hide my identity, it’s to hide my feelings. Recently, I’ve been dealing with a few…. differences of opinions. I am not one to post a lot to social media, and I don’t usually ruffle feathers by making too many comments on others profiles, even if I disagree with whatever’s posted. Lately though, I’ve had a few disagree with the content of my posts, regarding Easter, or Abortion, but really the subject matter isn’t important. The part that’s really hit me in the feelers is how those coming to me attack my faith, those who fight for equality, but who are also supposed to be my friend. People I’ve known for more than half my life, people I trusted as a friend, have seemingly decided their offense of the cross was stronger than our friendship. In recent years I found I no longer get messages asking me how I’m doing, or checking up on me, but I’m kept around anyway. Why would someone go out of their way to openly attack a friend?

As Christians are we doing this to others? When people want to open up about the troubles they face, (MAKE NO MISTAKE WE ALL HAVE TROUBLES) are we listening according to scripture? Are we there for our brothers and sisters in their times of need, or are we turning our backs on them, forcing them to deal with their burdens alone. It makes me sick when I hear about a suicide. I wonder who they had in their life to talk too. I wonder who was there for them to lean on, who was that friend to help carry the load when it’s too strong. Are we a friend for someone to lean on? (Yes believe it or not that’s a song) When so many people shut the door and treat us as distant once in a while friends, it’s easy to understand why so many people feel the need to wear the mask. We hide our feelings because we are vulnerable in this day in age to be rejected for feeling anything but happy. What was it that Jesus Said Matthew 11:28-30 (NKJV) 28 “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am [a]gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Christ tells us to come to Him when we are feeling weak and low. And we are called to be like Christ, yet we shun those who struggle.

No, the truth is, I’m not all right. In the last couple weeks I’ve been dealing with a constant financial struggle with school. I’ve buried my aunt/God Mother. I’ve dealt with attacks from those who were supposed to be friends. I’ve had financial struggle pop up largely because I was stupid. I’ve been dealing with a slight bout of depression. I’ve felt very alone as of late. Dealing with the choice to date someone almost 9000 miles away. While I wouldn’t change that decision for the world, it does come with it’s own set of hardships which are very real. I’ve been feeling trapped and unable to change my current situation. While I understand none of these things is all that bad in the grand scheme of things, they all create stress, and stress in the moment is still very real to the one perceiving the situation. No, it could be much worse, as I could be in Sri Lanka dealing with the losses, which are horrific in the recent round of bombings. Or in the city of Durham where a building blew up from a gas leak, where someone lost their life and dozens wounded. In comparison yes, my problems shadow, but a persons problems are no more or less real in the moment of someone’s life. How are we treating those ‘friends’ of ours when they are in need? Are we forcing our friends to wear a mask and hide their pain, or their struggles?

Masks don’t just hide pain, masks hide addictions of all shapes and sizes, substance abuse, alcohol, pornography, gambling, video game, spending, eating, and the list goes on. Are we forcing people to wear masks to hide these afflictions because they are too afraid to say anything based on something we’ve done? Do we as Christians have a aura of being better, or holier than though? Sin is sin, and no sin is greater or worse than another (except for blaspheming against the Lord). We tend to say well I’m a good person, I’ve never killed anyone, or I’ve never stolen anything, etc. but we grade on a far different curve then God. God looks into our heart, and sees the strain, He sees the struggle within. God wants us to turn to Him when we are in need of help. God wants us to pray and ask for His love and His mercy, and His guidance. If we are to be little Christ, are we truly availing our hearts to those around us who are in need? Christ died for our Sins, and vowed to be with us always till the end of the age meaning forever because Heaven is eternal.

To be honest I’m tired of pretending like everything’s okay. I’m tired of struggling daily to keep hidden my pain. I’m tired of telling everyone I’m fine, and in reality I feel miserable and alone. I pray to the Father every day for strength to get through my day, and not feel overwhelmed with everything I have to do in a day. There are a vast number of problems in need of solving that I cannot solve in a day. There are so many people out there who struggle daily, and we constantly let them down. Wearing the mask will never hide the eyes. The eyes often show more than we wish, but we as a society no longer pay attention to the world around us. We are taught in this world to look out for number one, ourselves. Scripture itself tells us to Proverbs 4:23“Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.” Which doesn’t means to not show or share emotions, but to protect it from attacks, or miss teachings.

We may choose to hide ourselves from people, but we can never hide ourselves away from God. God sees all, and wants only a relationship with us. God wants us to be willing to accept His love, and grace. In order to receive it though we have to open our hearts to the Lord. Nothing can be hidden in the light of the Lord, so we shouldn’t even try. As for people, I struggle to remove my mask for them to see, and sadly there’s good reason, my friends (some of them, not all) have not been very good friends. So the mask stays on for the majority, and I shall continue to hide away, pretend all is well, and only reveal the secret to those whom I can truly trust.

The Mask

Do you act and behave differently in public then you do in your own home? How about with friends or even different friends, do you treat people differently based on the group you’re with? The sad fact is even if it doesn’t happen as an adult, it does happen at some point in our lives.

As we go through life our life do we hide away our true thoughts and feelings? What about with the people we have sworn to love and cherish?

No matter the mask we wear the lord sees through us. The ill intent of your heart cannot remain hidden from. God. 1 Samuel 16:7 “7 But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.”

In our own space do we harbor evil thoughts for someone or a group of people? God sees what we do and think. We may hide away our feelings forever, but the worst is when you pretend to treat others well claim one thing, and lie to them, showing your true nature. For some people the truth is hard to handle. Proverbs 26:24-28 “Whoever hates disguises himself with his lips and harbors deceit in his heart; when he speaks graciously, believe him not, for there are seven abominations in his heart; though his hatred be covered with deception, his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly. Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and a stone will come back on him who starts it rolling. A lying tongue hates its victims, and a flattering mouth works ruin.”

We must not bear false witness and it is this author’s opinion that means lying about who we are to others and ourselves. We cannot claim to love and harbor ill will towards others. We cannot wear the mask forever. One day our true nature will come shining through whether it’s good or bad. Luke 12:1-3 12 “In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2 For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. 3 Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.”

Finding out one day someone was not who they claimed to be is perhaps the hardest upset someone can ever go through. Believing so faithfully, so truthfully, so blindly that the truth was so devastating. The day the mask was pulled away and the face that was no longer recognizable is beyond words. The upset not only tore the house down but shook and cracked the foundation of everything I believed in. (That’s a hard lesson for another time.) The truth that was reveled to me that day would have a resonating effect through my whole life. Never again will I let a mask break me. Placing faith in all the wrong places. I have taken off my mask, have you taken off yours?

God sees all and knows all. How we treat others, and how we reveal our true selves will be judged in the end times. We cannot hide away behind our different masks forever. Treating others with respect and love all the time. Be not a hypocrite, and be not a wolf spreading lies and deceits, but live honestly, live life with love, and compassion. Let the world see you for who you really are because God sees you for who you really are. Take off your mask and be the Man God wants you to be. Do not be the ill intent, the liar, the deceiver, and the cruel. Matthew 22:37 “37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”

You cannot hide the evil within forever. The true nature of your heart will shine through eventually. The person you try to hide from the world, the truth will have its day. Change your heart by allowing Christ into it. Who you are in deepest caverns of your soul should also be what the world sees. Be remembered as someone of absolute beauty outside and inside. Take off the mask.