Do you know what hiding feels like? I do. For
years I hid behind the mask of competency. I wanted everyone to think that I
had everything right. I tried to be the best in everything, including religion.
While my mask of competency worked well in the business world, I had a harder
time being the best in my relationships. For me to keep the façade going, I had
to keep performing for everyone. My song and dance was a crowd pleaser.
Sometimes I was just exhausted from performing and wanted to crash, yet I
couldn’t do that in front of other people. I feared that they might see the
real me – the one with imperfections and needs. Guess what? Keeping the mask of
competency on my face meant keeping more people at a distance. This existence
was perfect on the outside but incredibly lonely on the inside. God has
graciously been teaching me how to take off the mask of competency in the past
few years. It has been scary to let a person that close to my vulnerable heart,
but God has blessed me with deeper friendships than I could have ever
imagined.
While taking off a mask and showing people the
real you can be painful, this is the only place that we will find freedom and
ease in our relationships. When we take off the mask and live out of a truthful
place, we let someone bigger than us – God – reveal true beauty in us. Just as
Edward revealed his true nature to Bella in the meadow, God has revealed His
true nature to us through His Son, Jesus Christ. When the Son of God became a
man, we received a gift of revelation from God. We found a perfect life to
emulate and a perfect place to reside – in Christ. As a result, God lovingly
sees us as His children as we learn in Ephesians 1:7-10. When we sin against
God, we must pay a penalty and suffer punishment. God took away this penalty
and punishment with Jesus’s death on the cross two thousand years ago. As a
result, we are free. Did you hear me? We are free, abundantly free. Holla! We are
free to live a peaceful and abundant life. If we have a relationship with God,
then we are continually forgiven as we live to love God and others well.
Throughout
the Twilight series, Bella is looking
for a new identity. She finds it, but it comes at a great cost to her family
and friends. In the reality of this world, things are different with God. Our identity is changed with God. We are
forgiven, redeemed and holy in His sight. Ephesians 1:11-14 says that we find
out who we are in Christ Jesus and are sealed by God’s Spirit. Finding out who
we are reminds me of the college years. College offers a new start for many of
us, and it typically presents a larger gathering of varying personalities.
Bigger groups of people provide more diversity. You can join a host of
different social groups. You can choose from a variety of majors. You can even
select from a wide array of housing options. Sometimes it takes a few months to
find good friends at college. Sometimes it takes a few years to decide on a
major. Some people like this ever-changing atmosphere, and others need more
structure and direction in their lives. Everyone moves at his or her own pace.
While the college years may seem like a
permanent identity, no one or thing can offer you a lasting and fulfilling
identity like God. Our looks can be enhanced, but they will eventually fade.
Our reputations can be heightened, but eventually we will fall. Our romantic
lives can be magnified, but no earthly love is guaranteed. An identity based in
the eternal Father – the Creator of the universe – is the only one that will
never change. Plus, you don’t have to be a certain size, gender or race to
qualify. God calls all people into a real, loving relationship with Him. A
Higher Being - the Creator God - offers us an identity based on eternal love. We find a
new identity in Christ through God, and it is good. We have space to explore
this new life through His forgiveness and room to grow in Christ.