The Masquerade...

But would it set me free...

If I dared to let you see...

The truth behind the person...

That you imagine me to be??

Would your arms be open...

Or would you walk away?

Would the love of Jesus...

Be enough to make you stay?

What say you? Now don't go off trying to figure out "what does he mean in this posting?" I punched up my CD in the Titan today to spin up some good Louis Armstrong jazz, and Casting Crowns was already loaded up, so I just let it run. The words of this song literally jumped out at me....

If you're wondering why, then go back and read Marhaba, I Will Give Your Rest, and the Interactive Blog Post. Go ahead, I'll wait right here.

I love my church family. I do. Please just understand that God's love is so simple, so easy and completely unconditional. If it wasn't so, why would we even have the opportunity of salvation given to us? Why?

You see me without the masquerade...now what?

Psalm 51

1 -3 Generous in love—God, give grace! Huge in mercy—wipe out my bad record. Scrub away my guilt, soak out my sins in your laundry. I know how bad I've been; my sins are staring me down.

4 -6 You're the One I've violated, and you've seen it all, seen the full extent of my evil. You have all the facts before you; whatever you decide about me is fair. I've been out of step with you for a long time, in the wrong since before I was born. What
you're after is truth from the inside out. Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life.

7 -15 Soak me in your laundry and I'll come out clean, scrub me and I'll have a snow-white life. Tune me in to foot-tapping songs, set these once-broken bones to dancing. Don't look too close for blemishes, give me a clean bill of health. God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life. Don't throw me out with the trash, or fail to breathe holiness in me. Bring me back from gray exile, put a fresh wind in my sails! Give me a job teaching rebels our ways so the lost can find their way home. Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God, and I'll sing anthems to your life-giving ways. Unbutton my lips, dear God; I'll let loose with your praise.

16 -17 Going through the motions doesn't please you, a flawless performance is nothing to you. I learned God-worship when my pride was shattered. Heart-shattered lives ready for love don't for a moment escape God's notice.