Pretense-ing

pretend: 
1) to appear falsely, as to deceive; feign
2) to make believe
3) to cause or attempt to cause to seem so

pretense:
1) an attempt to make something that is not the case appear true
2) a claim, especially a false or ambitious one


Halloween approaches. Costumes, parties, masks, candy... Children and adults can throw on another identity, for the price of $49.95 (or if you're crafty, for the price of a glue-stick and a trip to the dollar store). My favorite costume ever was Belle's poofy, golden, ballroom dress from Beauty and the Beast. My favorite candy was always Snickers (still is), and I knew no devastation like those moments when the orange wax-papered lumps of artificially-flavored, peanut butter candy made a hollow sound in the bottom of my jack-o-lantern candy-carrier...... memories.

Despite its origins, I kinda like Halloween. It's fun. I'm not going to worship the devil on that day, just as much as I don't worship the devil any other day of the year. Let the fruit speak... but I digress.

I've been thinking a lot of Halloween lately... specifically the costumes. This idea of changing identities for one night, seems to fascinate us all... it's like the Cinderella story, but with candy, and no curfew. It's fun to dress up and pretend to be somebody else. To keep others guessing. To leave everyone agape at the creativity of your costume (which you found on Pinterest, from someone else's board). It's all good and fun on October 31.

But what about when it's Tuesday afternoon, in the middle of August? Or what about when it's in the business meeting, on Friday morning, in February? We pretend just as well on those days... we wear costumes. We wear masks. And it's not so innocent, and it's not so fun.

Pretending grew up, learned how to use liquid eyeliner, and became pretense.

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We drive cars to work that we can't afford. We throw on the jeans that we know are too tight. We show up at church, and we haven't read our Bible since last Sunday. We spend an hour every morning on our hair and makeup, because we feel the end result is closer to being someone a man might want.

We wear the costumes, play the parts, wear the masks... and we forget who we are. Halloween should be just one day a year, but we've made costumes and masks a part of our lifestyle. Our culture. Our values. We will do anything, be anything, say anything that will keep them guessing... keep the candy coming... make their jaw drop... win the best costume award.

I see it play out, every day. On TV, in Target, in my own home, in front of my own mirror. The real horror story of Halloween is that it's not just one day a year anymore... it's every minute, of every day, in a culture that has fallen away from the truth of their identity. And the sad reality is, Christians are not exempt from the pretense masquerade... we are arguably the most guilty of it. Because we have the least excuse for pretending.

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I've been reading through Ezekiel lately, and it is tough reading. It's a real-life account of the onslaught of God's wrath, on the people He loved... on the people that turned away from Him. All through every single chapter, there are verses that testify to a people that had gotten pretty good at deceiving themselves. They chose to adopt for themselves a different identity than the one God had given them... and the result was despair and destruction.

Now, I'm not trying to overly-extrapolate the story of the Israelites onto modern culture, or to really even draw a particular point here... but all I know, is that sometimes it all feels really similar to things I see happening in my own world. My own generation, my own nation. And sometimes, there do seem to feel like there are lines there, connecting us all. It's not enough for me to write a book on - but it is just enough to cause me to stop and think about it for a few minutes, and really consider it.

Because here's what I know to be true:

We think we are better at hiding, than we actually are. We hide behind our pride, our fears, our insecurities, our displaced longings... and sometimes we fool people. Sometimes, we even fool ourselves. Our costumes are incredible, after all.

But at some point, the masks always come off. We were created with intention... and there's only so far we can run from that reality. Pretense has no place, in the life of a believer... yet, we allow it to dictate so much of who we are.

As if we weren't already given an identity we couldn't afford, earn, or even dream of. As if it were possible to keep on hiding, without being discovered... As if we could all go on pretense-ing.

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"And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. They they will be My people, and I shall be their God." Ezekiel 11:19-20