Don’t be fooled by me. Don’t be fooled by the face I wear. For I wear a mask, a thousand masks, masks that I am afraid to take off, and none of them is me. Pretending is an art that’s second nature with me, but don’t be fooled. Can God be fooled? I give you the impression that I’m secure, that confidence is my name and coolness my game, and that I need no one. But don’t believe me. Beneath lies confusion and fear and aloneness. But I hide this. I don’t want anybody to know it. I panic at the thought of my weakness and fear being exposed. That’s why I frantically create a mask to hide behind, a nonchalant sophisticated façade, to help me pretend, to shield me from the glance that knows. But such a glance is precisely my salvation – my only hope and I know it – that is, if it’s followed by acceptance, if it’s followed by love. It’s the only thing that can liberate me from myself, from my own self-built prison walls, from the barriers I so painstakingly erect. That assures me that I’m really worth something. But I don’t tell you this. I don’t dare. I’m afraid to. I’m afraid your glance will not be followed by acceptance, will not be followed by love. I’m afraid you’ll think less of me, that you’ll laugh, and your laugh would kill me. I’m afraid that deep-down I’m nothing, that I’m just no good, and that you will see this and reject me. So begins the glittering but empty parade of masks, and my life becomes a front. I don’t like to hide. I don’t like to play superficial phony games. I want to stop playing them. I want to be genuine and spontaneous and me. Only you and God can call me into aliveness. Each time you’re kind and gentle and encouraging, each time you try to understand because you really care, my heart begins to grow wings. You and God can breathe life into me. I want to tell you both that. You can help break down the wall behind which I tremble; you can help remove my masks. Please choose to. Do not pass me by. I know it will not be easy. I fight against the very thing that I cry out for. But, I am told that love is stronger than strong walls, and in this lies my hope. Who am I, you may wonder? I am every man you meet and every woman you meet…we have lost the very person…God created us to be.
Read Psalm 139:13-17 (New Living Translation) and see how God sees YOU!