Take off the mask

 

   I’ve
been processing some things lately; see I’m only 2 weeks away from ending what
has been an 11-country/11 month mission trip called the world race. One thing
I’ve noticed around the world, but particularly in the Christian community we
all have some sort of mask we tend to wear. I don’t know why it happens; I just
know that I see it all around me. If you’re anything like me you are tired of
the same old “hey how are you doing? Oh I’m good, how are you?” conversations.
Are we all really that good, all the time? Or are we just petrified of what
someone will think of us if we tell them what’s really on our heart and mind?

   I once
heard a story; maybe it’s a true story, who knows. The story is about 2
friends, let’s just call them Jake and Tom. One day Jake loses his job but
remains optimistic, he searches the paper every morning for someone hiring.
Eventually the bills start piling up for him, and things aren’t looking so
great. Tom tells Jake he has a job for him at the zoo where he works but it’s
only for a few weeks and doesn’t pay much. Before Tom can even explain what the
job is, Jake who is desperate for a job at this point, yells “I’LL TAKE IT”.
Then, reluctantly Jake asks ok what is the job?

   Tom
smiles and says well as you know the zoo has been building this incredible
gorilla exhibit, we’ve spent a lot of money on marketing, and everyone in the
city is excited for the opening because they want to see the gorillas. Jake is
still listening for what his job is as Tom continues speaking. Tom goes onto
explain that the gorillas will not be arriving until a week after the exhibit
is due to open so the zoo needs someone to dress up in the gorilla suit they
purchased and act like a gorilla.

 

    So
Jake is in his gorilla suit and they open the zoo and people slowly trickle in
and make their way over to the exhibit to see the much-anticipated gorilla. The
first day, Jake is just sitting there, thinking to himself how much his
situation stinks. Then day two rolls around and he starts to do some things
people expect a gorilla to do, like eat some banana’s, move around a little
bit. As the days go on, Jake just gets more and more into his role, until the
end of the week he’s in full swing. There is a huge crowd pressed against the
glass of the exhibit, snapping pictures left and right. Meanwhile Jake is
running around the ground mimicking the movements of a real gorilla, he’s
throwing banana peels, he then starts climbing the tree and swinging from
branch to branch, at this point it would seem he’s completely forgot he’s
human.

   Jake is
showing off, swinging from branch to branch putting on quite a show for
everyone and as he makes a big leap to the out of reach branch he slips and falls into
the Tiger exhibit next door. As Jake comes to, he looks around and see’s the
Tiger starring at him, and it begins to growl. Jake gets up and takes off
running in his gorilla suit, he’s running as fast as he can, and as he looks
back he see’s the tiger gaining on him, he’s getting closer and closer and then
the tiger makes a giant leap and pounces on Jake. Jake is on his back,
screaming inside his gorilla suit, “Please don’t kill me, I don’t want to die,
I don’t want to die, ahhhhh”.  The
Tiger leans in closer, and closer, Jake is screaming for his life at this point
and the Tiger get’s right over his face, opens his mouth and says “Shut up,
before we’re both out of a job”. 

 

   As funny
as that story is, how true is it for many of us? Here we are going through
difficult, sometimes even painful things in our lives but instead of opening up
and telling others we call friends and/or family we chose to masquerade in our
masks and give our standard response “I’m great, how are you?” When if we would
just be honest with others, and ourselves, we would realize there is someone
next to us going through the exact same thing, as in the case of our friend
Jake. 

   This
year living in 11 months of intense community I’ve learned the value of being
open and real, it does something for your soul. Love is messy sometimes, and
it’s learning how to love people well in the midst of the mess, that is where
true community, where true life starts. Like I said before I’m not sure where
these masks come from, or why we chose to let them exist in our lives, we’ll
save that for a different blog. I noticed this distinct difference in my first
country of New Zealand. The native Maori people who were Christ followers didn’t
greet you with the standard so how are you doing, they would ask things like
“So what is God saying to you today?” and “What is God doing in your heart
lately?” They would just cut to the heart of the conversation and you couldn’t
get away with the typical response of “Oh I’m good, how are you?”

   So let
me challenge you by asking some questions. What masks are you wearing in your
life right now? What is holding you back from taking them off and exposing the
condition of your heart? Have you experienced true freedom by trusting God
enough and another person/community in your life by exposing your junk? Do you
think it makes you less of a person by being real about this kind of stuff? Do
you think God loves you any less, because as much as we try to hide it from
other people, He knows.

     The truth of it all, is He loves you just the
same and your real friends, family, and community will too if you just give
them a chance. What do you have to lose?