Masked Men

Where you understand that God is aware of all of your sinful rebellion and has loved you anyway, you have been set free to not pretend you're more than you are. If you don't get Jesus, like you don't get that he knows, you don't get that all the thoughts of your mind, all the desires of your heart are known by him, and he loves you anyway…you don't get that…you will be forced to pretend you're more than you are, and that's exhausting. It's exhausting.

There's this weird thing that happens in church life, all churches everywhere, it doesn't take you long to put on the "clothes" of the church you worship at. You understand what I'm saying? I'm not talking about how we dress, because we're all over the map here. I'm saying it doesn't take long to go,

"Oh, I need to have my Bible. It probably needs to be in ESV. I need to have a journal, take some notes. I need to learn certain phrases: It's okay to not be okay, gospel-centered, worship, community service. I need to learn phrases. I need to learn at what part of the song we raise our hands. I need to learn…Do I pat my chest? When do I do the pat-chest thing?" 

Then to begin to mimic the actions of a congregation and, in so doing, to compare yourself spiritually with the Joneses to where you measure up, and where you feel you're not measuring up, you just pretend that you are, and so you tend to regurgitate truth rather than walk in it.

Source: Affections Matter - Matt Chandler

People Desire Authentic...Not Counterfeit

"Deep down, we all desire authenticity. We may settle for counterfeit, but the illusion quickly wears off leaving us with little more than smoke and mirrors. Intentional efforts to be genuine, even if we don't look quite as polished as we'd like to, will always pay richer and longer-lasting dividends for ourselves and those who we are in relationship with." 

The Disappearance of Discipline

"We must face the fact that many today are notoriously careless in their living. This attitude finds its way into the church. We have liberty, we have money, we live in comparative luxury. As a result, discipline practically has disappeared. What would a violin solo sound like if the strings on the musician's instrument were all hanging loose, not stretched tight, not disciplined? " | Author: A.W. Tozer

Winning our Brothers Back

"Every conversation about sinfulness and rebellion against the Lord that calls people to repent is about winning our brothers back. It's not about being right. It's not about justice. It's not even about being justified. It's about concern for the soul of our brother and sister that would make us enter into an uncomfortable situation and risk the relationship for the reward of winning our brothers and sisters back, because in light of eternity, this confrontation is of utmost importance." | Matt Chandler

Our Unlimited Capacity for Self-Deception

"No one enjoys being cross-examined, or accused of having something wrong in their lives. But as we grow as Christians we come to the painful recognition that we have an almost unlimited capacity for self-deception. We slowly learn that we need to be stopped in our tracks by God. He uses Scripture to do this…We cannot reach our destination if we are travelling in the wrong direction." | Sinclair B. Ferguson