{"id":561,"date":"2019-04-03T12:33:52","date_gmt":"2019-04-03T16:33:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/?p=561"},"modified":"2019-12-11T23:12:54","modified_gmt":"2019-12-12T04:12:54","slug":"masks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/masks\/","title":{"rendered":"Masks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cWho may worship in your\nsanctuary, Lord?<\/em>
\n    Who may enter your presence on your holy hill?
\nThose who lead blameless lives and do what is right,
\n    speaking the truth from sincere hearts.\u201d<\/em> \u2013\nPsalm 15:1-2 (NLT)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revealing the truth brings pain. More often than white lies or plain all out\nlies. Why do I say this? Because in this world, we learn very quickly that\ntruth is inconvenient. So we live a lie. Every day, we put on a mask. We do\nthis out of fear that nonconformity will bring punishment from those we seek to\nbe accepted by. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not talking about the lies we tell our siblings (and in some cases of\nparents – children) about stealing their Halloween candy. Or that time you took\nyour dad\u2019s car on a joyride that left a scratch on it. Or the time when you\ncheated on your significant other by making out with someone else. Although\nthose count as lies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m talking about the painful truths of ourselves. Truths that expose us for\nwho we are. I think some of the heaviest burden we bear is the one where we ask\nourselves: if people knew the truth about me \u2013 would they still accept me?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why have I started writing about this? Because I just read an acquaintance\u2019s\nstory. Did you know that April 2nd <\/sup> is Autism Awareness Day? He is on the Autism\nSpectrum (ASD 1). I honestly had no idea. His story resonated with me,\nparticularly about trying to pass off as \u201cnormal,\u201d which is a quite painful\nburden to bear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By nature, we want to love and be loved. To be accepted. This is, I think, a\nnatural longing that leads us to care for one another. But after sin and\nseparation between God and man that led to the brokenness in relationships,\neverything changed. Our lives are in shambles. That love became twisted into\nsomething else entirely \u2013 a thing that requires certain arbitrary conditions to\nbe met before the person is considered lovable. That longing for acceptance can\nbecome an unhealthy obsession to conform to the world, even if it means selling\nour very own soul for it. Only God\u2019s love can truly set us free. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love what 1 John 4 has to say about this. I believe it\u2019s best to read it in its entirety for context and clarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one understands our fear and pain of rejection better than Yeshua, who\nwas rejected, despised and considered by others to be cursed. No matter how\ninconvenient or how difficult it is, we need to acknowledge that we are broken,\nand that we are tired of living out a lie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all are tired of hiding behind our masks. The world\u2019s acceptance doesn\u2019t\nmatter. God\u2019s acceptance of us does. God already loves us \u2013 in spite of our\nfaults, our disability(s), our weaknesses, in our brokenness. It doesn\u2019t matter\nif we are poor, rich, disabled, non-disabled, male, female, slave, or free. He\nis able to work and create a new life in us despite the fact that society tells\nus it\u2019s impossible. His love has the power to heal us and bring us to a new\nkind of life. Live your life knowing God has accepted you through Yeshua\u2019s work\non the cross \u2013 but have you accepted Him? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDo your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who\ndoes not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. Avoid\ngodless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more\nungodly.\u201d<\/em> (2 Timothy 2:15-16 NIV)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have faith and be patient. Continue abiding in the Lord. All will be\ncompleted in His time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow can a young person stay pure?<\/em>
\n    By obeying your word<\/em>.\u201d (Psalm 119:9 NLT)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWho may worship in your sanctuary, Lord?     Who may enter your presence on your holy hill? Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right,     speaking the truth from sincere hearts.\u201d \u2013 Psalm 15:1-2 (NLT) Revealing the truth brings pain. More often than white lies or plain all out lies. Why do I say this? … Continue reading Masks<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=561"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":721,"href":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561\/revisions\/721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nyhanmaum.org\/EM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}