Masks

Shakespeare quoted in Hamlet Act 3 Scene 1 – ‘God hath given you one face and you make yourself another’. At Chichen Itza, we bought a beautiful Mayan mask (see image) as a decorative artifact for our home. The mask is intricately designed and when placed in front of your face, it hides the contours and shades of the face. But no matter how much it masquerades the face, the wearer is still the same person. As I admired the intricacies of the handiwork in the mask, I was reminded of how we all wear masks as well and could relate with Apostle Paul when he wrote, ‘the things I want to do, I do not do and the things I do not want to do, I do.’ (Romans 7:15).

We only showcase the ‘good’ to the world around us, hiding the ‘bad’ and the ‘ugly’ aspects of our lives behind the masks we wear. While we may be able to successful hide our ‘real’ self from men behind the saintly masks we wear, there is no hiding from God. In fact, when we play double agents with God, what we are essentially doing is
1. denying the omniscience of God stating God does not know.
2. challenging the righteousness of God and ignoring his justice stating God does not care.

But thankfully, God is not interested in the masks we wear, He is interested in our bad and ugly lives. Unless the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us clean, we are sold under sin (Romans 7:14). We must first remove our mask before God and then before men/women for in not doing so, we are like men/women who are false prophets, deceitful workmen/workwomen, who masquerade as the apostles of Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). When we remove our masks before God, coming to Him as a sinner, the only response evoked is one of acceptance, wherein God accepts you and me just as we are. He removes the masks from our lives and lets the world see who we really are – His children.