When I teach the DISC personality assessment to a team, I help them understand how they are wired, how they communicate and why they behave certain ways in certain circumstances. One of the things we discuss in team dynamics is how over 70% of people feel they have to be someone they’re not at work. That same statistic holds true for being around other groups as well. The people in that category put on a mask in order to become that personality either because they feel the dynamics require it, because it’s expected of them or because they’re afraid of what people would think if they knew how they really are. We then discuss how tiring it is to try to be someone you aren’t. Sooner or later it gets exposed somewhere in your life, often in a blind spot.
On the night Judas betrayed Jesus, Peter followed behind the soldiers to see what would happen. As he stood in the courtyard of the High Priest watching them beat Jesus, a young girl walked up said she had seen him with Jesus. Peter immediately denied it and said he didn’t know what she was talking about. He moved to another part of the courtyard and another girl said the same thing. Peter denied it again swearing by an oath. Then the crowd noticed and also said his accent gave him away. He began to curse and swear to prove he didn’t know Jesus. That’s when the rooster crowed and Jesus looked at him. He mask had been exposed so he ran away and wept bitterly.
The first part of Romans 12;2 says, “And do not be conformed to this world [any longer with its superficial values and customs], but be transformed and progressively changed [as you mature spiritually] by the renewing of your mind [focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes]” (AMP). You and I no longer need to wear a mask that makes us look like the world. We have been transformed into a new creation. Our minds must be renewed by God’s Word that shows us how we are to live. This new life is who we truly are and it is not the way the world lives. There is a constant pressure to fit into a world where we don’t belong, and that pressure is not from God. As believers we can’t succumb to it or we will suffer the way Peter did that night. The good news is that also like Peter, we can become who God had created us to be and live with boldness the way he did after the resurrection. It’s time we took off the superficial mask and lived a transformed life.
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Devotions by Chris Hendrix 