Is It Good To Wear A Mask?

Is It Good To Wear A Mask?

We’ve all been told we should wear a mask to help stop the spread of COVID-19. 

We might also wear a mask as part of a Halloween costume. 

It can be fun to dress up and pretend to be a superhero or a scary monster for Halloween.  Sometimes it’s safer to wear a mask—to protect people from germs.  However, are there any times you shouldn’t wear a mask?

Jesus shared about one way it is not good to wear a mask.  It’s not good to use a mask to always hide who we really are from God and His people.

In Matthew 23:27, Jesus warned, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.”

You see, the Pharisees were the holiest people who lived in Jesus’ day.  At least, that’s what they wanted people to think.  They dressed up in fancy clothes and did a lot of very religious things for everyone to see.  Unfortunately, the Pharisee’s hearts were not right with God.  Their religion was all for show.  It was almost like they were wearing masks to cover up who they really were.

Of course, Jesus knew what was really behind the Pharisee’s “masks”.  He said they were like a graveyard.  They looked pretty on the outside, but were like a rotting corpse on the inside.  Jesus wanted to help everyone—even the Pharisees—get cleaned up and be beautiful inside and out.  Jesus has the power to make anyone clean, no matter how dirty they start out.  But Jesus can’t clean someone up if they won’t admit they need his help.  And most of the Pharisees didn’t want to admit they weren’t as perfect as they made everyone think.  They wanted to keep wearing their masks and pretend to be something they were not.

Jesus loves us all, even today, even you.  He’s not afraid if you are dirty or if you have problems or even if you’ve done some things that make you feel very ashamed.  Jesus loves you anyway and he can clean you up and put all that bad stuff behind you.  He will give you a better life and even eternal life.  Even after you die and are buried, Jesus can raise you to new life where you can live with God forever in a perfect paradise. 

However, Jesus can only help you if you take off your “mask” and don’t pretend to be something you are not.  You have to admit you’ve sinned. (Sinning means you’ve done things you shouldn’t do).  If you are willing to just be honest with Jesus and ask Him to forgive you, Jesus will forgive you and heal you and make you clean again.  Jesus will help you live a new life and a better life from this day forward.

So please, wear a mask for Halloween or to help protect against COVID-19.  But please, don’t ever try to hide who you really are from Jesus.  Jesus is God and he knows who you really are anyway.  And Jesus loves you and he won’t ever stop loving, no matter what.  There’s no need to pretend to be someone you are not.  So, just be honest with Jesus.  Pray and ask him to forgive you and save you.  He will.

You can be honest with me and my church too.  At my church, we don’t expect you to be perfect, because we aren’t perfect either.  We are just broken people that Jesus is putting back together.  So come join with us and we can all be a family of forgiven people who follow Jesus together.  We’d love to talk with you more and to have you worship with us.  Why don’t you?

You can worship online every Sunday at 10:55 AM eastern standard time.  Just click this link to worship with us online - pgumc.online.church.