Now this is serious, no satire or funny stuff. Way too commonly, i meet believers who “put on a face” just to get along, but underneath, it’s simply not what’s really going on. By saying “put on a face” i mean they offer us one face of smiling, sweet words, saying all the right Christian sounding words, but underneath, they are wrestling within themselves with struggling with seemingly unshakeable bad attitudes, grumbling, wrong judgement, woundedness, and feelings of pointlessness and being unworthy … unheard, unseen, and unimportant. Often, what’s going on with others is typically not at all what we think. As a result, listen. This is important. i want to hear the victory stories from the “Real life of a True Believer”. Are you that overcomer?
Find your courage my family, you, as Byron would say, the people who keep company with God, find your courage. i’d like you to practice restraint, of course, but also be willing to stand on what you believe and what is true, not just the facts, but what is true according to God. Be willing to sort out what is going on with you to see Jesus. Find your courage to gently but firmly, say what’s on your heart. You don’t have to yell, or scream, and it can be said with an unscowling face. Often, it’s not “what” we say but “how” we say it. You’ll be surprised what comes out of your mouth, sometimes right, sometimes not, either way, you found your courage to talk about what’s really on in your heart. What you’ve got to say concerning what’s going on with you may not make others happy, they may even slight or minimize you in some way from here on out, but we’ve got to stop pretending everything is just wonderful, and everyone is just “so amazing”, when really we don’t think that at all. i realize some of what we’ve got to say isn’t nice nor is it necessary to be said, that’s where discernment and restraint comes into play. But if we’re always “making a face”, which is the definition of being an actor and a poser, we are destined to become our facade, which would be “making a face” on top of “making a face”. Remember, the longer we wear our facade, the greater our chances are of becoming our facade. Oh, and don’t i know well what it’s like digging out from under my many acquired false faces.
Ask the Lord to give you discernment and make that call, talk to the person there’s conflict with. We don’t have to be mean and pointed about it, instead of blasting them, why not start, kindly and gently, with a heart to resolve the conflict rather than inflame the conflict. Ask them if they wouldn’t mind a couple questions. If they agree, let the scowl leave your face, using your best “let’s figure this out” voice, ask them what they meant when they said “such n such” or did “thus n so”. Give them a chance to answer. First: listen. Second: listen intentionally. Third: really listen. If you need to pause, breath, think, and find your composure. Take a moment to find your balance. Even if you’re trembling inside when it comes to being honest and about as transparent as you can stand, find your courage to state yourself. Think about what you’re going to say before you get there. Think about what outcome you want before you get there.
Realize, you might be wrong. You may not know it until the words escape your lips and your ears hear what your heart is saying. But if we keep all our thinking, all our feeling, and all our breathing to ourselves, telling ourselves we’ll only tell it to the Lord, but never really get around to telling Him our heart in a detailed conversation, it is as good as being severely constipated.
When we are spiritually and emotionally constipated, we end up with some spiritual problems which are highly likely to manifest themselves in our physical person. Our skin becomes so thin we are put-upon and wounded by anything others say, maybe even just the way they look at us hurts our feelings, and we’re steadfastly sure it is a slight aimed at us. Either that or we become so callous we become very uncompassionate to a dying world. Someone with too many secrets, unspoken doubts, and unresolved conflicts carries a very heavy burden which will bow them to the ground, weaken their knees, and float them away on a wave of suspicion while operating under clouded thinking. They easily become swayed by confusion or “contrary winds”, which is a Hebrew idiom meaning a wind which pops the ships sails back and forth, whipping forward and backward. It’s truly is literally a picture of confusion. We become so thin skinned, everything hurts, like a broken tooth with the root hanging out. Eventually, everything hurts.
Find your courage. In my distant past, i had unspoken doubts that our system of Christianity actually worked. From the pulpit, from the stage at conferences, all the “easy 5 steps to freedom” books, and especially on TV. All of those people seemed so sure of everything. They said, “believe this and you’ll be filled with peace, hope, love and purpose.” “Trust God and it’ll all just be OK.” “If you’d just tithe more God would bless you.” The pastor at the front was so believable until he went tooth gritting, raging angry at his kids and wife in the hallway of the church. Add to that my having gotten slammed around at home, not measuring up at school, and generally falling short in life. i had so much stuff hidden in my heart and head. Unspoken, unresolved, not daring to speak it to anyone lest i look different than my peers, it all began to morph into indifference to God’s preferences and standards. My careless alienation was soon to give way to anything which gave power to my flesh over my spirit, and that was not good.
One day, when i was down in the ring, caught in a headlock by sin, i thought i was done, down for the count, then Jesus tagged in. He got the devil in a headlock, then picked him up over His head in a spin, slammed him to the mat, and took him down for the pin.
Jesus said, “…come unto to me all you who are burdened and heavy laden, and i will give you rest. My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Neighbors, find your courage. There are things we, the church, simply must begin to talk about, and speaking sweetly and “making a face” while the truth is we’re just churning inside isn’t helping. Let’s talk about what you do after you believe.
What do you think?