“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” – 2 Corinthians 5:17
TAKE OFF THE MASK
I used to love Halloween as a kid. We’d start thinking about what costume to wear a few weeks before and then my mother would always be so gracious to come through with the perfect outfit.
I would dress up as my favorite football player or baseball player quite often, but my favorite costume might have been that cheap plastic Yoda costume I wore as a 10-year-old. We’d put on our masks and we’d go trick-or-treating, trying to get the most candy and hoping there wasn’t any apples or anything else healthy. We wanted candy and we wanted lots of it.
As an adult, I don’t wear costumes much anymore, but I still struggle often with wearing masks. But not the type that will get me candy. Instead, it’s the type that will paint this perfect picture of who I am. This mask is not physical or visible. But it’s there. The question of “Who am I?” can sometimes creep into my thoughts and suddenly, I’ll put the mask on, making it look like everything is perfectly ok and fine and normal, when it’s not.
Do you struggle with this? I think we all have identity issues at one point or another in our life. We’re one person at work, another at home, and even another when we’re at church on Sunday.
But at the core of who we are, these masks do not define us. They aren’t who we are, and they aren’t who God created us to be.
“Yeah but what if they really see me for who I am? What if they see my flaws?”
I have a few facts for us.
One, you are not perfect.
Two, you don’t have all the answers.
Three, you’re not like everyone else. And that is a good thing. A VERY GOOD thing.
I want to encourage you today to be real, be authentic, be who you are, and stand proud in knowing that the God who created this universe, loves you and cares about you more than you’ll ever know.
– Jason Romano
If you would like to submit a reader devotional, please email all submissions to jason@sportsspectrum.com
