“Jesus . . laid aside His garments.” John 13:4 NKJV
“The secret of confident living is being true to your identity in Christ.”
My thoughts today are about “charades.”
You probably have played the parlor game of “charades,” acting out a character, title, or name while others guess who or what that is. That’s the way some people live, leaving others guessing who or what they are. When writing about the politics of Washington DC, a columnist used a perceptive phrase, “many people live their lives in disguise.” I wish it were not true, but people other than in politics live in disguise, acting out a charade of an identity they would prefer to be. It’s true in business, as it is in friendships, communities, organizations, churches, families, marriages, and even with ourselves. We all have a surprising capacity to fool ourselves in any attempt to conceal our real self.
When tempted to live that way, ask yourself, “Why do I need to seem someone that I am not?” Are you unsure or unhappy with who you are? Keeping up appearances is hard to do. If you need to be someone more and better than you are, don’t pretend an identity; become that person for real. The possibility and power to be more than you are – all that you can be – is found in your relationship and dependence upon God. See John 1:12 KJV/NIV. It is easier to become the person you want to be, than merely pretending to be that temporarily.
Secondly, ask, “Who am I kidding, really?” Anyone who really matters to your life is not fooled by any subterfuge of mere posturing. And God certainly is not! The Bible says, “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7 NIV. The rejection you risk when inevitably you are exposed as faking it is more traumatic than the rejection you fear now. A sense of identity can be fragile in normal circumstances, without the wearying weight of charade. Being real is the key to loving.
There is a touching scene with Jesus and His disciples in the Upper Room just hours before Jesus’ betrayal and arrest. After supper, Jesus “rose from the table, took off His outer garment, and tied a towel around His waist.” John 13:4 TEV. There is a powerful drama in this deceptively simple scene that is anything but ordinary. The One they knew as Messiah, anointed Savior and Son of God, who was revealed in all His eternal and radiant glory to them previously (See Matthew 18:1-8 NKJV), now reveals Himself as Sacrifice and Servant of God to man. See Philippians 2:5-8 NKJV.
Confidently, Jesus “knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God, and was going to God . . laid aside His garments . .” You can’t be yourself with others until you are unafraid to be real with God. The secret of confident living is being true to your identity in Christ, always willing to be seen as what God made you to be.
My prayer for you today is that you are honest and open with God, pure and sincere.