8 Reasons It’s Time to Take Off Our Masks

First, this post has nothing to do with COVID. Instead, it addresses something we believers must talk about: why we must not wear a mask of Christianity while really living in a different way. 

1. For believers, the guilt of wearing a mask can be heavy. That’s just the nature of trying to remain standing when the conviction of sin is on your shoulders. 
2. Wearing a mask affects those we love the most. Our families often see through our masks, and they recognize our hypocrisy. They wind up wearing a mask on our behalf. 
3. Wearing a mask affects our church. That’s because every member of the local church affects every other member of the body (1 Cor 12). We do not sin in isolation. 
4. It hinders our prayers. When we walk in sin rather than repent, God does not listen to our requests (Isa 59:1-2). In fact, we usually stop praying at all. 
5. It weakens our witness. No matter how good we think we are at wearing a mask, few of us are strong evangelists when the gospel is not present-tense good news for us. 
6. Continually wearing a mask is wearying. The harder you have to work to make sure your mask is always on, the more the work wears out your soul. Masks require us to be on edge at all times. 
7. Refusing to remove a mask lacks trust in the love of God’s people. I realize not all believers will respond well when they learn about a mask, but many will. Genuinely forgiven believers love others who also need forgiveness. 
8. Masks rob us of the joy of God-given forgiveness and freedom. Many times during COVID, I’ve heard about the stifling nature of wearing a mask. That’s a literal application, but it’s spiritually accurate as well. A mask is bondage—not the freedom of forgiveness. 

In His grace, may God help us take off our masks today.