Mask Off

Nowadays, you go in the grocery store (since that’s about the only place you can go), and you’re surrounded by people with some form of face covering.

Some people have on woven masks with cute, creative prints, some have on legitimate surgical masks, and some people have a bandanna from Dollar Tree wrapped around their face. It's all good. Whatever the mask of choice is, everyone seems to be wearing one to decrease the spread of illness in this time.

What about the non-physical masks we adorn, though?

You know, the ones we very quietly slipped on years ago to make ourselves feel more appealing in some way?

You might have originally put it on because you desired to seem more carefree, intelligent, or confident. Maybe you wanted to appear more well put-together than you actually felt. There may have been some element of influence from others around you, as well. Perhaps you slipped the mask on so you could feel strong and "cool" and desirable — just more like what you thought others wanted to see.

Whatever the desired effect was, you may have adopted this mask to compensate for what you felt you lacked at the time.

Then, without realizing it, you ended up wearing the mask for months, years, and now, decades.

Like many of us, you got into the habit of wearing it so much that it got stuck, and you've been walking through life with it on ever since.

How come, though?

Once it served its initial purpose (getting you the job you wanted, pleasing your family/friends, seeming "smart" to your classmates)... what made you still keep wearing it?

Much like in the physical realm, you’re walking around still wearing this mask not just because it protects you necessarily, but because it shields others from what you may have. You don’t want to expose them to — and end up rejected for — the things about yourself you were using the mask to hide in the first place.

Unlike in the current global situation, though, wearing a mask through life actually does an unintentional disservice to yourself and others.

Keeping it on deprives everyone of all the real stuff — good and bad — that’s been placed inside of you. God created a space in this world just for you, flaws and all. When you're not being who He created you to be, that void is not being filled as He intended.

Whatever your reasons were for adopting and wearing the mask, please know that they were and still are valid. However, please also understand that the mask must come off for you to go where God is taking you.

Here’s just a few important reasons you’ll need to dispose of it:

1. There are people God intends for you to touch/witness to, and you have to be the real you in order to do it.

2. You being your most authentic self creates space for others to be their most authentic selves. 3. You can’t let God in to work on what you won’t even admit exists.

4. The people you’re meant to do life with, including your God-ordained partner, will be looking for you. If you’re always presenting as someone you’re not, once you cross paths, how are they supposed to actually get to know and love who you are?

5. You can’t fully enjoy other people when you’re focused on hiding who you really are. You’ll be too preoccupied trying to keep your mask straight at all times, and you may even end up envious of their openness and transparency, and how they’re still loved in it by others.

6. Lastly, fulfilling your God-given purpose will require an undivided amount of attention & energy.... Masking who you really are 24/7 or anytime you’re around other people, also requires an undivided amount of attention and energy... As you can tell, these two things can’t both happen. You will have to give up one for the other, as no person in the world could have enough attention and energy to dedicate their life to both.

In other words, a choice must be made. We have to decide whether continuing to wear this mask is worth our joy, peace, energy, and lifetime.

As you consider this, keep in mind that God already knows what we really look like. Like any good parent, He knows His child. He sees beyond the mask. He’s well aware of every single fault you struggle with. He knows that you may lack confidence, organization, focus, patience, and a whole lot of other things. He knows the consequences your faults have brought in past relationships, social settings, and jobs.

However, God does not reject you and your flaws. Rather, He’s already accounted for them in His plan for your life. “For whom He predestined, He also called; whom He called, He also justified; and whom He justified, He also glorified.” (Romans‬ ‭8:30‬ ‭NKJV‬‬).

That is not to say that God doesn’t expect you to continue seeking improvement. It simply means that He knew you were deeply flawed, and He still chose you to be apart of His kingdom. He sent His son to die on the cross to justify every flawed and imperfect individual, including you and I. That alone should tell us how God feels about all those weaknesses we use our masks to try and conceal.

If you still need convincing, though, check this: God has not only already accounted for and justified us with our deepest faults and weaknesses — He also allows us to have them for a reason.

Remember when I mentioned above that there are people only the real you can reach? That’s because the things you struggle with most are what you are supposed to help others get through. Your trials are part of your testimony, and your testimony is meant to give someone hope. Every battle you have faced as a result of your hidden Achilles Heel(s), is equipping you to recognize that same vulnerability in others, and to help them believe that God can still bring them out victorious.

So, now that you know the freedom and the decisions set before you...

What does your mask look like? When did you first put it on, and what faults drove you to do so? What about you (good and bad), do you believe your mask is shielding the world from?

Most importantly, do you still want to keep it on? If not, how will you begin detaching it from your being?

Feel free to share your answers in the comments below.

If you have no clue what those answers are yet, however, that is okay. Start by praying this prayer now and entreating God to provide you with His loving guidance:

“God, I ask that You reveal to me both my mask and the face You gave me. Help me realize what made me put this mask on so long ago, and why I should no longer wear it.

Lord, enable me to discard my mask. Please equip me with the courage I need to begin tearing it off and throwing it away.

Help me to replace it with appreciation for who You have created me to be, flaws and all. Allow me to release all the shame I’ve built up regarding my weaknesses — and to know that Your grace is sufficient, as Your strength is made perfect in my weakness. Please help me to see that, Lord.

Help me to start being authentically me while I develop in You, God, so that I can do what it is You have called me to do in this life. Amen.”