I would like to apologize for being late with this post. There has just been a lot going on and I believe Satan just doesn’t want this blog done, but greater is He that is within me than he that is in the world!
Today I’m writing about something that we are all guilty of and as Christians, we should not be. I hope it will give us all pause to think and examine ourselves.
Not long ago as I was driving home from town during a snow storm, I noticed someone standing at a stop sign wiping the snow off of it. As I got nearer to the individual, I recognized who it was. Now for everyone living around where I live, all you have to do is mention the name Willard, and everyone immediately recognizes whom this individual is. Willard has some issues that everyone knows about, in that everyday he dresses up as a different person. One day he might dress up as a woman. Another day he might dress up as an Indian or a soldier, or batman, or a cowboy and on and on. Every day he is a different character. He presents a different face or character everyday, so to speak. The problem is, even we as Christians try to put on different faces to try and get ourselves or others to perceive us in certain ways. We may not put on a different face or costume every day like Willard does, but we can be just as guilty and just as Willard was wiping snow from the stop sign so it could be easily read, God is telling us to STOP putting on these false faces.
The face is the primary instrument by which others recognize us. When I was in college taking a course in psychology, we studied the case of “the three faces of Eve”. It was about a woman who had multiple personality disorder. She had three distinct personalities, but in the end, only one of her personalities won out. You might say her true face finally shown through.
If you are a true Christian, you should realize that you have two faces or characters. We have the old character of the FLESH which identifies with the opinions, attitudes, ideals and characteristics of the way the world or mankind in general acts and thinks and we have the new character of Christ which identifies with God and Jesus and the way they act and think. The bible in Romans 12:2 says “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God”. Philippians 2:5 says “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus”.
You see everyday we are bombarded by the ideas and attitudes of the world around us. The world’s education system, the politicians, media and TV tells us we need to have this, wear that, buy this, act like that, think like this and everyone will see you as such and such. So we do these things because we want to perceive ourselves and we want others to perceive us as successful, cool, macho, sexy and on and on. We go out and put on these FACES or COSTUMES. Sometimes people want to be perceived as RELIGIOUS so they go to church and try to act like and do things that they think will make them look this way, but the true face or character shines through the rest of the time. I’m afraid it’s sometimes too easy to identify someone who is a carnal, immature or worldly Christian or not even a Christian at all simply by looking at the face or costume they are wearing. Believe me, everything some church denominations teach and say are alright are NOT alright according to God’s holy word, the Bible.
My question to you is this: Are you conforming to this world, or are you allowing the mind of Christ to grow in you? Are you trying to identify with the way the rest of the world is, or are you identifying with Christ? Are you a true Christian? If so, start letting the mind, character, and face of Christ become dominate in you by humbling and submitting yourself to God so that when others see you, they see the true FACE of Christ and not the Face of the world or just some false costume you’ve put on!
