Do you wear a mask? I can remember being so excited one year at Halloween. I found a mask on clearance. It was a full head mask with light up eyes and a voice changer built in. That thing was so hot, and my breath condensed on the inside, but man, I can remember how excited I was to wear it.

We often wear a mask. Our behavior and attitude changes depending on where we are and who we are with. People act one way when they are around their family, and a different way when they are at work or school. Do we act a different way when we are with the Church?

We can even wear a mask and try to hide things from ourselves. That covers our emotions, our sins, our weaknesses, and our fear of judgment. That mask is just as hot, suffocating, and unpleasant as that Halloween mask I had as a kid. We are afraid to be honest with ourselves because we might feel inadequate, exposed, vulnerable, and flawed. The truth is, we are all of those things.

Be honest with each other. The Bible addresses our hiding and lying to each other. “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Col. 3:9,10). God knows that only through honesty can we grow and help others grow in the faith.

Be honest with yourself. “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you — unless indeed you fail the test” ? (2 Cor. 13:5) We must be honest with our self. We need to be able to accept the truth to improve and work on areas in our own life.

Be honest with God, He already knows. There is no mask that can hide your actions, thoughts, and feelings from God. “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to Whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13). If you think you are hiding from God, you are only fooling yourself.

• Brad Tolbert, Monticello church of Christ, Monticello, AR