The Facade

One night many years ago, I had a dream that I was looking through a glass window at a woman who had her children and husband behind her. In front of her were several different walls, one after another, that were carved in a beautiful shape, and each had a different vibrant color. The next morning, I had a women’s meeting at church, but only the leader of the group and I were there. I proceeded to tell her about my dream and that I thought the woman was hiding behind a facade. Suddenly, she started crying, and she said that the woman was her. She was doing what all good women would do by taking care of her family, but had built up a facade to make her life appear to be fabulous to the world. However, it was fake.

I was reminded of this incident this past Sunday, when I went with my friend to her church and a visiting pastor from the United States spoke frankly and said that unfortunately, in the church, we come in with what he described as a church mask. He went on to explain that you may put on a face, and on the outside everything looks right, but on the inside you may be terrified that people may find out something that you did, or they might find out the thoughts going on in your mind, or a sin issue you haven’t fully dealt with. So you come to church and pretend that everything is great while saying, “Glory to God.” But on the inside, you are suffering.

I wonder how many people in churches all over the world are suffering behind a facade right now because they don’t want people to know what is really going on with them. This could happen because they are fearful or prideful. These are both of the devil. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. This “sound mind” in some versions of the Bible is translated as “self-control.”  The truth is fear is often fed with lies that the devil plants in our hearts and minds, and as it grows, we feel like we are losing control. But, we don’t want people to see this, so we hide behind masks pretending everything is okay. The devil also uses pride to hinder us because he knows God hates it. Our pride may keep us from confessing what is actually going on in our lives, so we can never be healed physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.

Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. James 5:16

One of the big problems going on in Christian circles today is that people aren’t comfortable confessing their sins to each other. Truthfully, though, there may be some people who you really can’t trust with what is going on with your life, as they may feel that it is great gossip or a “prayer point” for someone who doesn’t need to know your personal affairs. Therefore, if you can’t find anyone you trust to confess to, then you might need to find another group of Christians to be around.

A talebearer reveals secrets, but he who is of a faithful spirit conceals a matter. Proverbs 11:13

We need to pray for faithful people to be around us to help us take off the church mask. Masks block us from walking in God’s purposes. Masks are facades, which are false, and God is all about the truth.

Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:31-32

The truth frees us, but the devil wants to keep us enslaved in his lies. When we are not willing to give up our facade, we will stay entrapped. Those beautiful facades may be walls of protection that are put up to keep people from hurting us, but they may also stop God from having His way with us because we are not totally surrendered to Him because of our wall of self-protection. This also demonstrates that we don’t trust God to protect us. The Christian website, Display the Gospel, had an interesting article about those walls of self-protection.

So, here's my confession: I build walls. Big, heavy, stubborn, impenetrable walls. Walls built with the stones of pride and fear that I have for so long allowed to become the prominent building blocks in the construction of my life. And if I'm really being honest, this wall-building is nothing more than a defense mechanism designed to give me a false sense of safety within the boundaries I have established. For years, these walls have dictated how I interact with and love others…It is in this struggle, and in all the other areas that I find myself most fearful, Christ calls me to lay my life down and follow Him (Matthew 16:24). To follow Him into vulnerable territory, the world of openness and freedom. Because our God is the God who breaks down walls. He destroys physical Jericho-sized barriers (Joshua 6:1-27). He obliterates invisible social and racial walls between those "chosen" and those deemed "unclean", destroying and dividing walls of hostility (Ephesians 2:14). And as if that weren't enough, He rips heavy curtains from top to bottom, removing barriers that once separated people from His Holy Presence (Matthew 27:51). 

It is time we get real and recognize that we have built a facade, which is a wall of false sense of security. Once we realize this, then, we need to trust God and let Him have His way with us to break down our facade.