Hopefully we all have someone at church that we're close enough with to let them see the real us so we can unload what's really going on and get help and support if we need it. Someone to laugh or cry with whatever the season may be. That's part of being a family and The Body. (1 Cor 12:26)
Being a part of a body like that is one of the big reasons my wife and I decided to forgo traveling full-time with lose roots in favor of plugging-in to a great church and only traveling to minister part-time. We felt for us it was a healthier model. We were all created to be a part of community - not lone rangers. I digress...
Sure in our western culture we wear the "everything's great" mask a lot of the time. When it comes to ourselves, it's a defense mechanism and it's pride. Then, when it comes to others we're often uncomfortable with people spilling their emotions all over the place. Who wants to see that?
Well... God does.
Read the psalms. The psalm-writers spill their guts all over the place continually. Good, bad, happy sad - they don't hold back, they let it all hang out. There are no masks. No niceties. Just raw emotion. They petition God to violently wipe their enemies of the face of the earth in retribution; they gush tears about how close they are to dying of grief; they dance on mountaintops in unbridled exhilaration. There doesn't seem to be a filter. The walls are down. It's just how they truly feel and they're not afraid to tell God about it plainly.
Could this be part of what it means to worship God in TRUTH?
Could it be that God isn't interested in our social rules and would prefer we openly take off the masks He sees through anyways and confess to Him how we really feel? Do we maybe forget sometimes that He is not one of us and we can let down our guard with Him?
It's safe.
He knows we need Him.
He wants us to know it and admit it.
He is attracted to our need.
Not our fronting.
He opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. (James 4:6)
If you're a worship leader, approach God in honesty yourself. He knows anyways. Model it. Then lead people into worship that encourages truth between them and Almighty God. Make room for people to be real before Him. Nudge them towards it because you love them.
There is freedom there. There is healing there.
There is grace and forgiveness after confession.
And the TRUTH will set us free.
