Ultimately, it really is the identity and the worthiness issue—not how we appear on the outside—but what's going on inside and how deep our trust is.
The Broadway musical Godspell has many wonderful scenes in it, many moving, dramatic moments. One of my favorites is a scene toward the end where Jesus is with His disciples in The Upper Room. He takes a bucket of water, a rag, and a mirror, and he goes to the disciples each in turn, and He washes away their clown faces. They had all been painted up as clowns. Then He holds the mirror up in front of them to let them see themselves as they really are, and then He hugs them. The point is clear and powerful. They didn't have to wear false faces. They didn't have to hide their inadequacies. We don’t either. We don't have to play pretend anymore. God loves and accepts us just as we are.
What a word, what a picture, what a model we have in the centurion: "I'm not worthy, even to come to You, but speak the word and it will be so."
(Maxie Dunnam, www.Sermons.com)
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