We often put up different faces for different situations. We have a "church" face; a "work" face; maybe even a "daddy" face or a "mommy" face; and a "happy" face (even when we aren't!). We hide our true feelings from others. Sometimes our cover-up leaks out a truth about our real selves, and it can scare us and those we love!
"'How do you know me?' Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, 'I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.' Then Nathanael declared, 'Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.'" (John 1:48-49). Jesus, of course, can see through all our different faces. Just like Adam and Eve, who had to cover up with fig leaves, Nathanael was "discovered" under the fig tree by Jesus with his true self revealed. And just like Adam and Eve, whom God gently clothed with animal skins after the Fall, Nathanael was promised even more than Jesus knowing his true identity. "Jesus said, 'You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that. I tell you the truth, you shall see heave open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.'" (John 1:49-50).
We are no different from Adam and Eve or Nathanael. We, too, have our fig leaves to hide behind! But the Lord knows the real "us," and He loves us anyway! He assures us and promises us amazing miracles to come. All we need to do is declare Jesus our Lord and Savior, and the rest will be His to reveal to us today and forever!
3 comments:
I want a bigger fig leaf! LOL
Sometimes I often think about a person who may have found some fault with me, usually a customer at work who didn't appreciate how I may have handled a certain situation. They are thinking not-so-nice thoughts about me I'm sure, and I think to myself, they just don't know the real me.
I'm bothered that they think I'm some mean, vile person, but you know...if they new the real me, they'd know that I'm worse than they could ever think I am.
A teacher at church made me think about that when he shared about the fact that a lot of times we convince ourselves that "we are good people", but, when you get down to it, our thoughts, wants and desires are less than Godly.
Yep, I'm really wanting a big fig leaf now!
Hey I'm from the same neck of the woods as you. And I confess I no longer have any extra faces. Ministry cured me of that forever! well, that and a major case of burnout....anyways, what you see is what you get. And I warn you, real isn't always pretty, so you may be begging me to put on a mask!
Good post. Unfortunately the Adamic nature too often has us hiding our unregenerate selves from even those we love.
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