Are You Wearing a Mask?
Millions have been ordered from various vendors like Amazon. Most of the stores are sold out. If you order them online they “might” be delivered in May. And then there is the whole discussion about which ones will actually protect you from the virus. Some say you should wear a mask when you are out in public for protection, while others say that only those infected with the virus should wear a mask. To wear or not to wear…that is the question.
Of course, I’m talking about wearing masks to avoid contracting a virus that could be potentially life-threatening. Please don’t think that I’m taking the subject lightly or trying to minimize the loss of life from the coronavirus. I most certainly am not doing that.
All of the talk about wearing masks made me begin to think about whether or not we wear masks on a daily basis. Oh, I’m not talking about a literal mask made of paper, but a mask that can possibly fool those with whom we come in contact.
Do any of us put our smiling mask on when we walk into worship, while on the inside we wish we were anywhere but assembling with these people? Sometimes I wonder if some of our teens wear masks so they will fit in with those around them. Or maybe we wear a mask to hide the emotions we might be feeling at any particular time.
I think about David and wonder what his mask looked like when Nathan the prophet told him the account of the little ewe lamb being taken from the poor man (2 Samuel 12). Do you suppose he took off that angry mask when he heard the words, “You are the man!” (vs. 7)?
What do you think Peter’s mask looked like when he denied even knowing who Jesus was (Matt. 26:69-75)? I imagine it changed drastically when that rooster crowed and he remembered what Jesus had said to him.
I wonder what mask Judas was wearing when Jesus knelt and washed his feet right along with the other apostles, and how it changed when he finally came to the realization of what he had done (John 13; Matt. 27:5).
Maybe we all should confess that we often wear a mask on a daily basis. And maybe we should ask ourselves if the mask we wear reflects who we really want to be.
We can look happy and be miserable on the inside, and most people won’t know.
We can have on a pleasant mask, but be seething with anger on the inside.
We can wear a mask of honesty, but be deceitful and dishonest.
We can wear the mask of a Christian, but spend our time and effort in the devil’s army.
We might fool people, but we cannot fool God. He sees right through that mask and sees our heart.
Are you wearing a mask?
Wearing a literal mask may or may not protect you from a bad virus.
But wearing a mask that tries to disguise who you really are will not fool God.
“…the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7).
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AUTHOR: Donna Faughn
