Putting Up Pretenses

Anyone who has known me for a while knows that I am not a fan of having my picture taken, and candids rarely turn out like I hope. Why? I think a lot of it has to do with the stupid things I do and the weird faces I make. And while they are fun in the moment I don't really enjoy looking at them later. So from time to time when people tag me in a photo on facebook, I am thankful that I can untag myself. Why?

Because I don't like the image that is portrayed of me.

Everyone does this in one way or another. For me the most obvious way is the fact I don't like most pictres of me, and I know that there are a lot of women out there who can relate to this. But there are so many other ways we put up pretenses. I remember back when I walked the fence between a life after GOD and a life after the world. Everytime I stepped in the church building I was puttng up a front of some kind. I would never let my guard completely down because I knew if someone looked too closely, they would see a hypocrite who has made a home in the world.

Some people put up pretenses in relationships. I know that this is a temptation for many when it comes to dating. In fact, most magazines advize this. Don't be yourself all at once, or they may not like you. We are told my Cosmo and GQ that we must portray a certain image to get them hooked on us, then slowly reveal the real us to them.

And while that is a sad state to live in, it's even more sad when we are that way with GOD.

This is what the Pharisees of JESUS day did. (Matthew 6 has several examples of this) Paul referred to them as white washed tombs (Acts 23). They looked pretty on the outside, but on the inside they reaked with the stinch of death.

But more often than not, our pretense or false appearance, is more subtle when we come before GOD. Instead of crying out to Him and letting Him know the pain we are in because our hearts are broken, we say a censored prayed that we think He would rather hear. But He already knows what's in our hearts, why do we try and hide it?

I'm not saying that we live a life of disrespect, it's quite the contrary that I'm suggesting. I think that GOD longs for a realness in His people. Look at Davd and Moses: David is described as a man after GOD's own heart (Acts 13), and Moses is referred to as His friend (Exudus 33). And these men were real before GOD; there was no pretense.

Look at what Moses pray when He was at His witts end with the Isrealites in Numbers 11:11-15. . . And Moses said to the LORD, "Why are you treating me, your servant, so miserably? What did I do to deserve the burden of a people like this? Are they my children? Am I their father? Is that why you have told me to carry them in my arms – like a nurse carries a baby – to the land you swore to give their ancestors? Where am I supposed to get meat for all these people? They keep complaining and saying, 'Give us meat!' I can't carry all these people by myself! The load is far too heavy! I'd rather you killed me than treat me like this. Please spare me this misery!"

This is the man who GOD was speaking to when He said in Exudus 33:17 ". . . you are my friend."

And David wrote many Psalms crying out to GOD (Psalm 10 &13 just to name a couple).

But the beauty I see in these prayers is that they knew in their heartache that they could cry out to GOD. Then once their hearts were on the mend they would see how GOD was working and could rest in the arms of their Father. In the next chapter of Numbers, Moses is seen prayig for the wellfare of his brother and sister. Then he goes on to lead the people in the desert for 40 years.

He didn't leave it at the blowup. Instead Moses shared his heart with GOD and let GOD lead him through his pain. No pretense, just realness.