Raw

Who are you? Not the you that your Facebook says you are. Not who you’d like to answer as. The real you. Many of us put up a mask or facade in most areas because we don’t really want to be transparent or honest with anyone. I wouldn’t necessarily say this is always a bad thing, but we should get something straight. It is a simple truth that changing your mask does not change your face. Changing your “on paper” description will not change who you are in life. However, changing who you are on the inside will certainly reflect who you appear to be on the outside. We only put masks on that appear better than who we really are (unless it’s Halloween). It would be a rather foolish thing though to cover a beautiful face with an ugly mask.

Sort of as a disclaimer before I go on, I want you to know that I don’t say all of this to discourage you, nor to judge you or put you down. I say it because the only change that will matter is the change of your bare bones or raw materials. You would not say that a mean man who does a nice thing is now a nice man, and nor would you say that an apple tree that somehow bore an orange is now an orange tree. The mean man becoming nice will not happen by him doing nice things, but by removing his desire to do mean things and placing a new desire to do nice things. It has to do with roots; after all, the roots will determine the fruit.

These roots that I speak of are what God wants to take a hold of, and they are what you must surrender in order for any true and valuable change to occur. You will not become a better Christian because you go to a different church or become a better lover because you get a different girlfriend. You will not change by doing different things, but by changing your reasoning for doing the things that you do.

For instance, I can give you a hug so that you’ll give me a hug in return, or I can give you a hug purely to show compassion so that you feel better. It’s the same action for each, but the intentions are what matter.

God is creating people who, even when the outside façade is broken down, will be pure and holy, even at their core. If we will stop focusing on the image we are putting up, and dare I say, on the fruit we are producing, and focus more on our roots and God’s heart, not only will we change but the world will change. If we will give Him even our most fragile and vulnerable parts in faith, we will be not be disappointed by the results. There is only love in Him.

Consider this. You would not think very highly of God if He was not showing you the real Him. If all He gave you were simply doctrines and facts, and a dose of peace here and there, you would not consider Him to be anything like the God we know He is now. There must be depth in this relationship, both on His end and on yours. That is perhaps the reason we are not, at our core, who we wish we were and ought to be. When we seek the core of God’s heart we will find it. When we find it we will conform to it; when that happens, we become a fire.

The reality is you are a holy potential living in a sinful body, but we desire far more than just potential. The reality is that God is an almighty and powerful being that many of us have limited to being only potential. The reality is that He loves you more than you can possibly fathom, and whne you give Him your pain, tears, struggles, worries, and will, He will not only measure up to what and who you need, but overcome it (through the power that worketh in you).