Yesterday at Cross Point Nashville, Pastor Tom spoke on the spiritual discipline of confession. I thought it was a fantastic message and it really got me thinking. He talked about how, as Christians, many of us have grown up in a religious format that has taught us how to “pretend”.

My guess is that many of us have layers and layers of different masks we wear. Some of these masks cover up pain from our past. Some of the masks cover up habitual sin in our life. Maybe the masks cover up our insecurities.

And most of the time I don’t think we realize just how dangerous these masks are.

There was a quote that I heard or read years ago, I can’t even remember who said it, but it has always stuck with me. It went something like this…

“You can only be loved to the extent that you are known”

This is so true! And I have a lot of work to do in this area. I’m still tempted to hide instead of reveal. I’m tempted to make myself sound a lot more spiritual than I really am. Tempted to act like I have faith when I really don’t. Tempted to tell stories that make me sound like I’m a better husband or father than I really am.

I guess I sometimes just find it easier to pretend and cover up than to live totally authentic.

I think we have a long way to go in today’s church to truly understand what confessional community looks like. We can preach it all day, but as church leaders we have a lot of work to do to create environments where people feel safe to live this out.

I know I’m committed, and so are our elders, to taking the steps needed to create this kind of life changing, authentic, community here at Cross Point.

So, why do you think we wear so many masks?