Pastor Ron Burcham
By the end of the month we will once again see the painted faces and costumes. Some will be cute and others a bit scary. When every hair is in place, the makeup done just right, and the costume is perfect, they will hit the streets.
Yes, by the end of October, we will have seen our fair share of rabid football fans with blocks of cheese on their heads and faces painted in team colors…oh wait, you thought I meant the children who will head out for Halloween. Well, I suppose that will happen as well. Some will dress up as super heroes while others will be Disney princesses. Each child for a few hours will be someone else. They apply the makeup or pull down the mask and their true identity is hidden, if only for a time.
Adults can wear masks as well; they are just harder to spot. Oh, we don’t apply makeup or cover our face with some plastic representation of someone else. No, adults are much more subtle than that. When you greet someone and they ask how you are doing, you put on the mask of the happy retiree, living the good life. You force a smile, shake the other person’s hand warmly, and go along with the mask you wear.
Children wear masks to exercise their imagination. Adults put on masks to cover up what is really going on inside of them. We wear them because when we look at everyone else they all seem to have their life together. Did it ever occur to you that they are simply putting on a mask just like you? Sure they look happy and carefree, of course, their kids are wildly successful and obviously every relationship they have is a solid 10! When in reality some days it is hard to get out of bed, their second child is going through a divorce, and they hardly speak to their siblings.
Perhaps we even try to hide from God what is going on in our life. Consider what God said in 1 Samuel 16:7, “…People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” God knows what is really going on inside of you and the pain you may be going through. Take off the mask and get real with Him.
While you are at it, why not get real with the people you are close to as well. Consider what the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, “…the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”
Leave the masks to the children on Halloween and the over-zealous football fan. Be real with God and with one another and you will be surprised on the love you feel from both.