Fellowship in Depth – Part 2 – Wearing a Mask
John 8:32 “Then you will know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”
I have often thought of this verse and wondered why so many of God’s people are not free. They are still tied up with fears, inhibitions, unrealized dreams, etc. They are often afraid to step out and try new things; they have a lot of creative ability, but never seem to reach their full potential.
There might be a number of reasons for this, but one that looms out to me is that maybe we have never discovered ourselves and one of the reasons for this is that we have learned to “wear a mask.”
It was Paul Tournier who said: “The external mask, the outward reaction deceives everybody, the strong as well as the weak. All men, in fact are weak. All are weak because all are afraid, they are all afraid of being trampled underfoot. They are all afraid of their inner weaknesses being found out. They all have secret faults. They all have a bad conscience on account of certain acts which they would like to keep covered up. They are afraid of other men, of God, of life and death. What distinguishes men from each other is not their inner nature, but the way in which they react to this common distress.”
It is this mask that often keeps us from having a fellowship in depth and so our fellowship stays at a shallow level. And in a relationship like this we never get down to a meaningful dialogue. Instead, it will always be superficial.
Romans 14:7-8 “For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.”
One of the important aspects of fellowship in depth where we learn to take off the mask is that we begin to discover ourselves. It is by unburdening ourselves – that we discover ourselves. We never discover ourselves in solitude. It is only by ‘giving’ one’s self that one ‘finds’ himself.
To be open to another person is giving of one’s self. When a person has done this he gains a victory. He begins to sense a tremendous sense of liberation and freedom, because by being transparent with you he/she has become transparent for him/herself.
Some years ago I met a brother who had some type of skin condition. His skin would peel like if he had been out in the sun too long. It was not repulsive to others, but to this brother it was.
He felt that people were repelled by this condition that he had. In order to protect himself he began to build a wall around himself. Whenever someone tried to get close to him they would hit the wall (of self-protection) and recoil back. When this happened this brother thought it was because of the way he looked and so he built a bigger wall that repelled all the more people.
One day this brother took the step of taking off the mask and shared what he felt. This was a moment of truth that began the victory. The people that he was sharing with were able to share with him what they really thought about the skin condition that he had. He began to see what was really happening; that it was not the skin condition but rather it was the mask he wore that repelled people.
This brother thought that he would never get married and have a family. I am glad to say that he is not only married, but he is also a pastor of a fellowship in the country that he lives in. What happened with thisbrother was that he unburdened himself to discover himself. No one else can do this for you either. You must recognize it and take that step of faith.
It says in Acts 2:42 that the early believers devoted themselves to fellowship. This is the type of fellowship that is needed; the type of fellowship that helps to change our lives. “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”
Are you wearing a mask? Do you put people off that try to get close to you? Or, have you shed that heavy burden that had kept you in a lonely unfulfilled life?