by Donya Dunlap | Jul 5, 2016 | The Spiritual Life
Have you ever wished that you could be invisible? I have. I’ve wished I had the magic of a two-year-old playing a game of peek-a-boo—I could cover my eyes and make the world go away. As adults we think children who “hide” in plain sight are adorable. We don’t realize we play the same game with God under a different name—church face.
What is church face?
It’s that little game made popular in Egypt…denial. (I couldn’t help myself) We plaster that fake smile on our faces, grab our Bibles, dust off our spiritual catch phrases, and pretend like everything between us and God is a-okay. It’s one of the worst states in which we can find ourselves. We can’t correct what we won’t admit is a problem…and this is a big problem.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 1 John 1:8, 10
Church face is different from saving face.
Sometimes we play church face out of self-preservation. I get that. I’ve played a lot of church face just to get through a worship service without crying. I’m not talking about social niceties and salvaging your makeup. The problem comes when we come before the throne of God with our masks on.
Sometimes we find ourselves praying in handmade, fig leaf dresses just like Eve did. We think things like, “I don’t really need to confess that…it’s really not that bad.” or “I can’t give this dream to God. What if He doesn’t allow it to come to pass?” These thoughts…these accusations…reveal that we lack understanding of the true nature of our Heavenly Father who seeks to grow us in love and give us all good things.
We can’t live in freedom if we don’t wash our church face off. Denial may keep our internal boat from rocking too uncomfortably, but it will drown us, keeping us from our destination of fruitfulness in Christ.
The key is seeing God for Who He truly is.
As Jesus followers, God is no longer our Judge, Jury and Executioner. The payment for sin was made on the cross. Our debts have been paid in full! The Apostle Paul assures us that…
Our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Romans 6:6-7
We have been set free, but living this out takes action on our side. We have to implement the truth. Each time we choose to be honest before the Father, He draws us into deeper fellowship with Him.
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:5-7
Scripture doesn’t say that we are to be perfect. It says that we are to be honest. In order for God to walk with us, we must choose to walk in the light of His Word. We must confess our faults and dreams to Him. We must give Him permission to release our chains and wipe clean our church face.
Swap your church face for a welcome mat.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. Revelation 3:20
God is knocking on your heart’s door, but you hold the key. You must accept that God’s love does not grow based on our goodness. He knows the secret places of your heart and loves you still. Why not invite him into those places and infuse them with the light of His truth? It seems scary and painful, but by opening that door, you will find freedom. And freedom is so much more beautiful than church face.
by Donya Dunlap | Jul 1, 2016 | The Single Life, The Spiritual Life
If social media had 10 Commandments, “Thou shalt be perfect” would be number 1.
Thou shalt have the perfect body, the perfect job, the perfect spouse, the perfect children, and the perfect house. You must say the right things, follow the right people, and agree with the right politics OR you will not be accepted. You will be an outcast.
Sadly, this rejection happens frequently in the church as well. When it does, it’s a small leap to feel rejected by God. We believe that our looks, education, personalities, or our past prevents us from being used by God. We accept these lies and act accordingly, walking in shame when God has already given us victory, power, and purpose in Christ!
Israel’s Outcasts
Isaiah records two groups of people that felt like outcasts in his day: foreigners and eunuchs. Today’s equivalent would be non-“church people” and singles.
If you didn’t grow up in church and you don’t know the lingo, when to stand, when to sing, and where Ecclesiastes is in the Bible, you can quickly feel like you don’t belong.
As a single person in the church, you can feel shunned by the Sunday School classes for parents and ladies events geared towards married people. You start to believe the lie that if God hasn’t blessed you with a spouse and children that you are being punished.
Thankfully, God doesn’t see either group the way we humans often do.
Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say,
“The Lord will surely separate me from his people”;
and let not the eunuch say,
“Behold, I am a dry tree.”
For thus says the Lord:
“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
who choose the things that please me
and hold fast my covenant,
I will give in my house and within my walls
a monument and a name
better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
that shall not be cut off.
Isaiah 56:3-5 ESV
What a powerful promise! God looks at the foreigner and makes him family. God looks at the eunuch and gives him an everlasting name—one better than having offspring would have provided.
How is this possible?
Grace.
For years I had the mindset that God saved me by grace, but that I had to earn His favor through my good works. I was consumed with trying to be everything I thought everyone else wanted me to be. The ghost of perfection haunted me and made me feel like a failure.
Then I began to learn one live-giving truth.
God’s acceptance of us is based in His grace—period.
When I accepted God’s gift of salvation, my sin was exchanged for Christ’s righteousness. All of it. When God looks at me He doesn’t see an outcast. He sees the perfection of His beloved Son. I am accepted and loved by God because of Jesus’ work on the cross, not any work that I have done or ever will do.
Living under the guilt of things already forgiven is disregarding God’s grace. Striving to earn His pleasure by doing good works is calling God a liar. To quote Jesus:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.
Matthew 22: 37-38
The 10 Commandments prove that following a list of do’s and don’ts is impossible. Rules cannot make us holy. Only Christ’s righteousness can make us holy. Trying to “do better,” “rededicating our lives to God” and all other similar mindsets only set us up for failure. The problem is continuing to focus on ourselves.
Putting our focus on Christ is the only way to walk in victory.
Will we still sin? Yes. But when we do, we do not roll about in it, convinced that we are worthless. We confess it—accepting His forgiveness and putting our focus back on Him. Our failures do not define us. We must accept Christ’s forgiveness and grow in thankfulness for His grace.
The world, and even other Christians, may still consider you or me to be an outcast, but God calls us His own. If you haven’t received God’s gift of salvation, you can do so today. According to the God “who gathers the outcasts of Israel,” all are welcome to receive His grace.
Thank you for reading! If you would like to discuss these truths further, you can post a comment below, or take part in the Facebook Live video about this post happening at 10:00 a.m., Friday, July 1. Get a reminder by liking this page and clicking to receive notifications in your newsfeed.
