Religion enables us to wear a mask with our essential self unchanged. It is the way we baptize our un-Christlikeness with Christian community acceptance. It loves to claim to be more righteous than others. It is the way we take strong moral stands on the issues of the day without dealing with our own greed, control issues, need to be right, competitive spirit, and the un-surrendered self. Taking the mask off can be painful. It will tear at the center of our being. It will involve dying. We think it will destroy us, but by it we will discover freedom and life. Yet, most prefer the masks to the dying process.
“If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.” Luke 9:23-24 (NASB)
