Filthy is such a, well, filthy word. Even when it’s not associated with dirt, like filthy rich, it still sounds so negative. I like the word feculent. It sounds so upper crust, don’t you know. One could say “Oh, I love your feculent hair,” and one whose vocabulary was normal, would consider it a compliment. Deceptive, isn’t it?
It’s easy to smile at someone and say something that sounds nice but it isn’t really what is meant. I’ve heard a lot of folks talk about people who seem to feel the need to ask questions such as, “How does this blouse look?” What’s a good response: 1) “Oh, very nice, dear.” or 2) “Well, it’
s a nice blouse, but it looks a bit tight on you today.” There are some people who would handle number two. And then there are some that would be offended and respond curtly, “What? Are you saying I’m fat? I know I’ve gained fifty pounds but I’m stressed and what right do you have to accuse me of being fat?”
So we lie. Or at least I lie. Perhaps you don’t. Perhaps you say what you feel and fan the smoke away as best you can. That’s good. Personally, I think we are all wear a mask most of the time; we don’t say what’s on our minds, of exactly what we feel. It’s just a little white lie, right? There’s a scripture about speaking the truth in love. It means to say what is true, regardless of circumstances of another’s “feelings.” But it’s motive is to help, not tear down a person. It’s about showing loving kindness as we speak the truth. “Well, dear, the blouse is nice. And you look very nice, but it’s a little tight here and there.” Saying it nicely.
Perhaps that’s a silly example. The point is about motives. It’s one thing to choose not to potentially offend a person and actually do or say something that purposefully leads a person wrong. To use the “How does this blouse [or shirt] look” question. What is I ask it while I dress for a job interview. What if you don’t want me to get the job. So you answer that it looks great on me when it really doesn’t. It’s all about motive. It’s about loving kindness extended to people close to us and to people who are not necessarily close. It’s a filthy shame that we seem to constantly deceive one another in little ways; the little things we do lead to other things, bigger things.
The bigger things are summed up in a scripture:
. . . Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. (2 Corinthians 11:14)
It’s the way it is in our “modern” society. There are appearances of goodness, light, that within are nothing but darkness of evil. Churches are not immune to the deceptions of false teachings, especially when those teachings seem to look innocent. Take yoga, for example. It’s become somewhat accepted in churches, yet it doesn’t lead toward the Lord Who is our G-d. Rather it leads to an inner emptiness that eventually turns the practitioner away from the Master of the Universe.
We avoid deception, from what ever source it may come, by our relationship with G-d through His Son Y’shuaJesus. The Spirit of G-d empowers this relationship. We also maintain our balance in our life by our reading, digesting, the Scriptures, which are the Word of G-d to us.
Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .
JonahzSong 
I agree with you Wil wearing a Mask is the Pits, I know because I wore one for years as a protection and often there is a reason why other people do too, you may appreciate reading this message on the link below, I received it years ago by e-mail and than Posted it on my Blog, it is not exactly what your referring to but has a very interesting focus.
The Mask- https://freedomborn.wordpress.com/2011/10/28/i-wear-a-mask/
God tells us apart from not judging others eternal Destiny we are not to judge critically their weaknesses and shortcomings either but to remove the blank from our own eyes first, we often see critically in others what’s in ourselves, they reflect our own weaknesses like a Mirror.
But we are to Rebuke Sin, Correct error and warn of danger and we do so in Love and for Love not with a condemning judgmental spirit, we have all Sinned and needed forgiveness, we all put Jesus on the Cross and caused Him to suffer, we are all the worst of Sinners and because of our Sin Jesus was separated from The Father, which grieved them both greatly.
Christian Love Always – Anne.
LikeLike
Yes, Anne, you make great points about speaking truth without our judgmental ways, or condemnation. Wearing a personal mask, for protection, as you point out, is fine, really. We could look at personal masks as just hats we wear for the different roles we perform in this fallen world. A man, for instance, may be a father to a son, a supervisor to a man, a husband to a woman. . . you get the idea. Works for women too. But there are other masks. Masks that display a false light and cover the evil within a person’s heart. We don’t need to judge them. We don’t need to condemn them. Our G-d has already judged them and found them guilty. But what if G-d wants the deception ended? Exposed?
When Y’shuaJesus walked into the Temple as saw “money changers” he didn’t give them a hug or speak lovingly to them understanding they’d probably had a horrible childhood and weren’t really responsible for their poor choices. No. As the scripture records, “He said to them, ‘It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.’ ” Then he simple drove them out.
But that was Y’shuaJesus. He is G-d. He knows the hearts of man and the evil within. He knows whose names are written in the Book of Life. He can act that way. Yet, He has appointed prophets to act on His behalf. I believe the nations that were once Christian have fallen far from G-d and their Christian roots because so many of those who are appointed to be His prophets, His spokesmen on Earth, have forsaken their calling; they have not taken the mantel that is rightly theirs. We need our prophets back. Else a modern Nehemiah will cry to G-d:
“Many years you bore with them and warned them
by your Spirit through your prophets.
Yet they would not give ear.
Therefore you gave them into the hand
of the peoples of the lands. (9:30)
Australia is falling away as Christians’ freedoms are eroded. America, too. Where are the Elijah’s? Where is a modern Moses that will declare “Let G-d’s People Alone!” Weak-in-the-knees Jonah is all that is left. And I confess my guilt.
There is the five-fold ministry that G-d works through on Earth. Pastors are only one of the five. Teachers are one of the five. Yet we’ve relegated ALL ministry to pastors and teachers. We need our evangelists to stir up the people of G-d. We need the oversight of Apostles. We need the prophets to confront wickedness in high places. And, yes, even in low places.
It will happen, though. And there will be many who stand up and are murdered for doing so. These are the martyrs that G-d will resurrect in the first resurrection, who will rule with Messiah during the Millennial Reign of Lord Y’shua.
Thank you, Anne, for reading and commenting. You stir me to think, to ponder, to question myself and to discover things within and to express them. I appreciate you. May G-d bless you and keep you and enable you to continue to always shine. . .
LikeLike