“Watch out, brothers, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that departs from the living God. But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception.”
- Hebrews 3:12-13 HCSB
I don’t know much about masks.
Now don’t get me wrong… I’ve seen them.
My human has a drawer full of them for cold weather, yard work, leftover COVID masks, and one unfortunate attempt at painting the bathroom that ended with blue spots on both of us.
And for a birthday party, my human once put big donkey ears on me and laughed so hard that he snorted coffee through his nose.
I still haven’t forgiven him for that one.
Dogs don’t wear masks very well. Our tails usually tell the truth before anything else does.
If I’m scared, you know it.
If I’m happy, everybody knows it.
If I’ve chewed something I shouldn’t have, my guilty face gives me away.
Humans, though, are professionals at hiding.
I’ve watched my human smile at church while carrying burdens heavy enough to bend fence posts.
I’ve heard folks say “I’m fine” with eyes that look tired and hearts that sound worn thin.
Sometimes people have even hidden from God like He didn’t already see what was underneath the mask.
But Hebrews 3:12-13 warns us to be careful that our hearts don’t slowly drift away from the living God.
And one of the easiest ways to drift is to pretend we aren’t drifting at all.
That’s the thing about masks.
They may hide weakness from people, but they also keep people from helping us.
A while back, I got a burr stuck deep in my paw.
Now, I tried to tough it out.
Limped around acting like everything was fine.
But eventually my human noticed.
Sat down beside me.
Spoke gently.
Pulled the burr out carefully.
Relief came the moment I stopped hiding the hurt.
Funny how that works.
Sometimes we mask our sin.
Sometimes we mask our doubt.
Sometimes we mask the places where we’ve wandered from faith because we’re afraid somebody might think less of us.
Sometimes people even hide from God like He can’t already see what’s underneath the mask.
But faith was never about pretending to have it all together.
Verse 13 says to encourage one another daily.
That only happens when we’re honest enough to let somebody see behind the mask.
The enemy loves isolation.
Loves secrets.
Loves the slow hardening of a heart hidden behind a polished smile.
But Jesus?
He meets us in truth.
Not the cleaned-up version.
Not the church-face version.
The real version.
The limping version.
The struggling version.
The “Lord, I need help” version.
Maybe today is a good day to take off the mask.
Because grace works a whole lot better on uncovered hearts.
So does knowing that we are not alone with our sin, pain or questions.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go apologize for something involving a missing sock, a sandwich and choices I regret.
Keep the Faith… Carpe Diem
