A couple of years ago there was the most stinkin’ cute video circulating out there in youtube land. Little David, after returning from a dental surgery and loopy on pain medication, asks his video-filming father, “Is this real life?”
Good question, little one. With social media and other masks that we can live behind, it can be difficult to determine what is real and what is a carefully-crafted image.
Are you ever tempted to look a certain way to people…or is that just me? Maybe we want to seem ‘in the know’ or completely cool. Maybe it’s a need to seem like we have it all together, but on the inside we know we are falling apart. Usually we have to work pretty hard at keeping up whatever likeness we’re desiring. It can become fatiguing.
I encourage you, though, to give up that fight. It’s a worthless battle that is taking your eyes off the real fight (against sin and the evil one). If you are struggling with keeping up a fragile veneer, talk with someone. Humble yourself and ask a godly friend to listen while you confess. Maybe you don’t feel forgiven for those sins from yesterday, or from decades ago? Share this with a trusted person who can direct you to the truth of God’s Word. And, then believe it. In my experience, it is when I’m feeling alone with myself that I fall deeper into sin or I think I have to manage the mask all the more. Satan has us where he wants us when we think we can’t be helped, can’t be forgiven.
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
1 John 1: 7
Living a life openly before the Lord and others is key to having unity with others. How can we be truly unified if we’re so busy keeping our sins hidden from one another? As we confess our sins, Jesus is faithful and just to forgive us of those sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. There is great freedom in this!
Christ has come to give us life and to give it abundantly. Be honest with yourself, be honest with someone who can help you, and be honest with God. That is real life!
Love, Wendy
