March 2, 2017
When we become Christ-followers, God the Father takes our old sinful self and replaces it with Jesus’ righteousness. When God sees us, he only sees Jesus in us— Romans 3:22 (King Jimmy Translation).
“Who Are You, Really?”
Many people are disturbed about the “Fake News” coming from the main stream media these days. “Fake News” is describe as a distortion of facts to sway public opinion about people, events or ideologies. Often, reports and journalist make up “facts” to keep their narrative alive. As a writer, your humble Aggie scribe is noted for integrity and accuracy by reporting only the facts of a story. The following is an incredible story of high crime. Some may call this “Fake News,” but the reader will discern the truth.
An Aggie friend is the Texas A&M Bank manager. One day, two men stormed into the lobby and robbed the bank. One held my friend at gunpoint while the other cleaned the tellers’ cash boxes. Being creative, the Aggie tellers made the best of the situation, getting the robbers to pose with them for selfies to post on Facebook. Fortunately, no one was hurt, and each teller received over a thousand “likes” on their timelines. The bandits made a clean getaway.
The Texas A&M Police sent their top cop, Detective Colimbo, a Columbo look-alike, to investigate the crime. Known for his ruffled hair and maroon and white, rumpled trench coat, he smoked the same cigar since he joined the force in 1971. The world learned of Colimbo’s detective skills during the Trump/Russia collusion investigation. He solved the root of the “scandal” when he found an open bottle of Russian salad dressing in President Trump’s refrigerator.
“What did the robbers do?” Colimbo asked the Aggie banker.
“One held a gun the size of a Howitzer at the end of my nose while the other robbed us blind.”
“You must have got a good look at them.” The detective never looked up but wrote furiously on his crumpled notepad. “Can you describe them? Were they short? Tall? Dark hair? Blond? Race? What’d they look like?”
“They were about six-foot tall, but I couldn’t tell for sure what they looked like,” the Aggie banker said. “They had stockings over their faces.”
“Okay, then,” Colimbo said, pulling another note pad from his raincoat. “What kind of get-away car did they use?”
“They didn’t have a car. They jumped on two elephants to make their escape,” the Aggie said. “The elephants crushed a Kia, turned over a hot dog stand, and lumbered down the block. As they fled, the robbers threw the Uber signs off the sides of the elephants.”
Colimbo peered over his reading glasses, his eyes indicting he’d heard this story before.
“So, they were packing pachyderms too, huh? This happens a lot now. Ever since Ringling Bros. stopped using elephants, they’ve been on their own.” He shook his head slowly. “It’s a shame. Some elephants turned to Uber to make trunks meet. Looks like another case of a good elephant gone bad.” He took the cigar out of his mouth and motioned to continue. “What kind of elephants were they?”
“Are you kidding me?” the puzzled Aggie said. “I’m a banker–I have no idea. An elephant’s an elephant, isn’t it?”
“No. Asian elephants have small ears. African elephants have big ears.” Colimbo knew his three semesters of “Elephantology 101” at A&M would one day pay off.
“Sorry, I couldn’t tell,” the Aggie said. “The elephants had stockings over their head too.”
The bandits pulled stockings over their heads to hide their identity, hoping to outsmart the authorities.
Since humankind was ejected from the Garden of Eden, people attempt to hide behind a façade, daring not to reveal who they really are. When Adam and Eve sinned, the covered themselves with fig leaves, trying to hide from God. Their hide-and-seek game didn’t work.
Human nature has not changed.
People still hide ho they are but thankfully aren’t using fig leaves. Psychologist define this phenomenon as “masking.” One’s true emotions are concealed by displaying a faux emotion. Negative emotions such as sadness, frustration, or inferiority are portrayed with a positive emotion that is socially accepted. This may be a forced smile and acting nice, or an insincere sincerity. Many hide behind boasts of their exploits. They walk through life, wounded in spirit. Rejection, usually stemming from low self-worth, leads to resentment, and if not dealt with, opens the door for bitterness to move into our personality. Then the granddaddy of all emotions–guilt–becomes an unwanted companion. Psychologists also say masking produces physical and mental health issues. Deep, unresolved hurts can lead to various forms of harm to self and others.
Masking produces spiritual health issues as well. God’s Word tells us he made each of us with a unique plan for our lives (Psalm 139:16). masking was never God’s plan. Sin taught fallen man how to live a lie instead of following God’s plan. Just like God saw past Adam and Eve’s feeble attempts to hide who the were after they sinned, he sees right past our mask and into our hearts, seeing who we really are–the “who” we want to deny.
Good news. For those who have trusted Jesus’ finished work on the cross to forgive sin, God sees us as his beloved child, Holy and righteous. Is there anything that God cannot do? Yes. He cannot see our sins, because Jesus’ righteousness covers our guilt. The Bible says we who trust Jesus are “hidden in Christ” (Colossians 3:3) Christ followers have no need to wear a mask, because our identity is well-known to God the Father. We’re his kids. He’s our Daddy.
Lord, you know everything about us. We may hide our true self from others but nothing is hidden from you. As you kids, what a comfort to know we are “hidden in Christ.” Thank You Jesus.
Stay close to Jesus.
Jimmy
P.S. Weeks later, the Aggie banker went to the police station to view suspects in a lineup. The police brought out eight elephants for the banker to identify as the two getaway pachyderms.
After looking intently at the suspects, he shook his head. “I can’t tell for sure,” my Aggie friend said. “They were also wearing sunglasses.”
Jimmy Eskew © 2017
THANKFUL 
Leave a Reply