Throw Away the Plastic!

It’s time for radical action.  We need to throw out ALL of the plastic!  No, I’m not implying that we immediately purge our kitchen cupboards of our entire Tupperware collection or refuse to recycle our plastic and just throw it in the garbage instead.   I’m not even referring to cutting our plastic credit cards into little pieces and pitching them so that we won’t ever be tempted to overspend.  The kind of plastic I’m talking about has to do with the fake masks that each of us put on from time to time.

 Every one of us has chosen to wear our shiny little plastic veneers in the presence of others in an effort to look better than we really are.  We work so hard at trying to cover up our imperfections and vulnerabilities so that no one else can ever see the real us.  We’re not comfortable with letting anyone know if we’re hurting inside, stressed out or struggling with a personal or family problem.  The whole practice of hiding our weaknesses or pain from others is disheartening because what we desperately need during difficult times is encouragement, love and support from others who can identify with our pain.  However, we continue to believe the lie that the precious mask we insist on wearing will bring us the respect and admiration of other people in hopes that they will think more highly of us.  The falsehood behind this thinking is that in reality the mask we hold so dear really isn’t beneficial to us at all.  Our plastic most certainly never benefits or encourages anyone else whatsoever.  The only purpose for wearing our perfection mask is to present a false impression that our lives are ideal, we have no problems and that we are better than everyone else.  When other people believe the lie we’ve got it all together then it makes them believe they can never measure up to our false façade.  They also feel that there must be something terribly wrong with them because they aren’t perfect like we are and they’re the only ones struggling.

Where is the most common place that I have observed women sporting these not so attractive plastic masks?  It’s in our churches that I’ve seen many of these masks most commonly being modeled.   What better place to pretend like every area of your life is perfect and problem free than in front of other believer’s right?  We let on like we’re faultless and never mention any battles that we’re facing on the inside for fear of being judged by those who appear sinless.   What in the world does carrying out this sort of make believe scenario actually accomplish? What a terrible thing to feel as if you cannot share your burdens with others because they may look down on you for being less ‘spiritual’ than they are.  If I have learned one thing for certain in my lifetime so far, I’ve never met any human being who is without sin.  In fact, there isn’t anyone who has ever walked the face of the earth who was perfect except Jesus Christ.  The last time I read Romans 3:10 it still said “There is NONE righteous, no not one.”   That means that none of us are perfect and to pretend that we are stems from a heart that is in desperate need of a good spiritual cleaning.

The biggest problem with wearing these masks is that we are ignoring what God instructs us to do in His Word regarding serving others, which is sin.  There isn’t a person alive who doesn’t long deeply in their soul to be encouraged by other people, especially when we are battling sin issues in our life.   We all need to be lifted up and built up by those who are in the body of Christ who are to genuinely love and care for us.  Instead of making people believe that we lead an ideal sinless problem free life by hiding behind those plastic masks, we could actually decide to start being transparent from now on.  We could actually begin talking about how we struggle so we can help others with what God has taught us because every human being struggles with something.  

We see time and time again in Scripture that it is our responsibility to love, encourage, support and build each other up.  If we neglect these commands from God then we are choosing to be disobedient to Him.  Our Creator designed us in such a way that we crave the love, support, comfort, and encouragement from other believers.   I Thessalonians 5:11 shows us that we are to “Therefore comfort each other and edify one another…”   I believe so many of us in our churches are failing miserably in this specific area.  God teaches us in Galatians 6:2 that we are to “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”  James 5:16 says for us to “Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another…”   We cannot obey these commands to love, encourage, pray for and serve others when we refuse to remove our “holier than thou” plastic mask.

So why is that we insist on holding tight to those fake masks that God never intended for us to wear in the first place?  It is most definitely our pride that motivates us to put on those plastic masks every week.  It is our pride that fuels our need to cover up our sin.  God never planned for His people to go around acting like they were perfect but to encourage others in the things that God has been teaching us.   One of my favorite passages of Scripture that I absolutely love is Psalm 51 where King David pours out his soul to God in his prayer of confession for his sin of adultery with Bathsheba.  I can identify with King David in so many ways.  God lovingly placed David’s account of repentance and forgiveness in Scripture as an example for each of us to follow.  What if David had learned all of those lessons about God and His great mercy, love and forgiveness but decided not to share any of it with anyone else?  The sin that we deal with and what God teaches us along the way is extremely valuable and can be used by God to work in other people’s lives to encourage them in their walk.  In Psalm 51:13 David talks about sharing what God has taught him with others.  “Then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will be converted to you.”   We’ve all heard the saying “Christians certainly aren’t perfect, they are just forgiven.”  This is extremely important to remember when we’re tempted to put on those plastic masks.

 Do we truly desire to continue wasting this earthly life with empty shallow relationships devoid of any deep spiritual meaning at all?  Are we completely satisfied with surface acquaintances we see once or twice a week as we greet them with our plastic smiles?  When everyone is busy pretending to be sinless, we will never enjoy the true biblical fellowship that God intended us to experience with others.  We waste time focusing our conversations on more surface issues, discussing things that don’t really matter for eternity.  I don’t know about you, but I long for deep lasting friendships with ladies that I can be myself with and talk about what I’m struggling with.  I now have developed several of those amazing friendships and I praise God every day for those ladies.  Life has more meaning and purpose when you have established godly relationships with others based on love, support, encouragement, transparency, and godly admonition.  It’s definitely time for all of us to reach deeper beyond the surface and live richer more abundant lives making a greater difference and impact for the cause of Christ.  This will never become reality if we continue refusing to throw away our plastic.

I know personally all about hiding behind a plastic mask because I wore my little mask everywhere I went for years.  I polished it extra clean and shiny before I ever entered through the doors of our church building each week.  I really believed that my mask was so convincing that it could even fool God.  I thought if I pretended enough and went through the motions of the Christian life on the outside that it would be enough to get me by but we can NEVER ever deceive God.  We may be able to con everyone around us but God won’t ever be snowballed by our outward actions. Our Creator is the only One who truly sees the exact condition of our inner heart.  There were times in my rebellious state that I even neglected to bring my Bible with me to services because I didn’t want to have to carry it, but boy I never forgot to wear my mask!  It brings me to tears to think of how spiritually apathetic I was that I even fell asleep during church services often because I thought it was boring, but at least I had my mask on.  Over the years, my kids were constant observers of my superficial motives and how I simply went through the motions of the Christian life.  I can’t even begin to explain to you the devastating effect our prideful hypocrisy as parents has on our children.  We’re only condemning our children to a life of plastic masks when they see us modeling insincerity and dishonesty to others.  I’m thankful that my radical heart change which caused me to throw away my plastic has paved the way for my kids to refuse to be plastic recyclers.   

I’m not saying that getting rid of the masks will be easy or that we should even expect everyone to participate.  Sadly, some will never humble themselves and remove their masks.   If we go before God in the spirit of humility, He will transform our hearts in ways that we never dreamed would be possible.  I choose not wear my plastic mask anymore, I finally placed my sin of pride under the blood of Jesus and asked for forgiveness for exalting myself and my will above God’s will for me.   This requires an ongoing process of confessing my sin of pride and asking my heavenly Father to teach me to be more like Christ.  I can’t even explain how wonderful and freeing it is to be transparent and open with others about the sin I’ve dealt with and continue to deal with.  I am done worrying about what other people think of me, I now choose to concentrate on what my Savior thinks and knows of my true heart motives.   Yes, I’ve gotten some wide eyed looks the first time I meet someone and begin telling them about how God has worked in my life regarding my sin.  Most Christians don’t even feel comfortable talking about sin anymore because they might have to relate to someone on a deeper level than they’re used to.  And they certainly would never want to expose their own sin struggles to anyone else because of their pride.  The fact that Christians often ignore the subject of sin even in our churches must make our Enemy pretty happy because we’re playing right into his plan.

What would happen this Sunday if none of us wore our masks?  I believe that being real about our sin would actually lead to revival in some of the churches where people play the “perfection” game every week.  Maybe you could be the first to take off your mask in your ladies group and start an amazing work of the Holy Spirit in your church.  Are you willing to follow Christ’s commands to be pure in heart and see God do awesome things in your life?   In this world where so much of the ‘real’ has been replaced with fake plastic, let us all rise up and come together in an effort to rid ourselves of the plastic masks and be the women God has called us to be.   No more plastic!