Vincent Damon Furnier… “Who’s that?” you might say… but if I said: Alice Cooper you’d immediately know who he is if you know anything about Rock Music. He’s a legend. But Alice Cooper is not the real man… No, the truth is quite different and far more powerful. But you know this if you already tuned in to our show.
One of the powerful things that came from what Vincent (aka: Alice Cooper) said was this:
When he’s on stage performing, he puts on a mask… so that Alice Cooper is not the real him… It is a caricature. “Alice Cooper” is his stage name… a caricature that he wears on stage to perform but that isn’t really him.
This really impacted me so I stopped to think about how often we also create caricatures and wear masks so that we can be accepted by others.
And it got me thinking that when I look at the life of Jesus, He never wore a mask… who He was, is who He was. He wasn’t afraid to be Himself and I think, from a scriptural standpoint, He knew that He was validated by His Father. He knew that He was loved by God.
When He emerged out of the waters of baptism after John baptized Him, there was a voice from heaven that said: “this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” So, Jesus had perfect harmonious relationship with His Father. He knew exactly who He was. And because He knew that He was loved by His Father, and doing the will of His Father, He had no need to impress men. So much so, that Jesus was able to stand on that ground of being the Beloved Son as He was empowered to resist the devil in the wilderness.
I believe that to the degree we know how much we are loved by the Father, along with our understanding of the finished work of the Cross, that these two powerful truths will create in us, as it were, a perfect man… a perfect understanding of God’s love… because the Scripture says perfect love casts out all fear and fear is what motivates us to wear masks.
So what are the different types of fears that causes us to wear masks? Well the first reason we wear masks is that there’s a fear of rejection. We are afraid to be rejected. And because we’re afraid to be rejected we put on a mask so that people won’t reject us… we put on the mask that we think people want see… we try to be the person whom we think people want to see… that other people think we are so that they’ll accept us.
At its root, there is a need for acceptance. We need to be accepted… we need to be liked… we need to be loved… We need to have friends. And that, at its core, is what motivates us to wear masks. We try to be lovable and likable and acceptable.
There’s also a need to be validated… we need people to see us as really good and really great. To see us as the type of person they’d want to hang out with… Why? Because we are afraid to be alone… some of us are so terrified of it that we will become whatever the circumstances call for….
The other point is that there’s a self-loathing our self-hatred in us. We don’t really like ourselves that much and therefore we think that other people aren’t going to like us much when they “see” what we “see.”
We reason that if we don’t like what we “see” in ourselves, then no one else will like it either. So, we try to be what we “think” people will like.
We must reach the point where we’re comfortable in her own skin. And we cannot get to that point until we know that God has loved us with an everlasting love. He demonstrated His love for us on the cross of Jesus Christ so that all of our sins…past, present, and future…have been forgiven and have been removed. We are righteous and holy in His sight. We are not trying to be; we already are!
So be encouraged! I’m asking you to take a step of faith. Not a leap of faith, but a step of faith. Try taking off that mask. Try to be more transparent. Start with people who know the real “you” and love you just the way you are. Despite all your imperfections, they are STILL here.
Start here… start the transparency here and let it go. And start your New Day from here… filled with HOPE.
“I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love.
With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.” – Jeremiah 31:1b
An EVERLASTING Love. It never fades and it NEVER rejects.
May God bless you on your journey of faith.