Chances are you may have experienced a blemish or two while going through your teenage years. I know I have attempted to use makeup to try to conceal and cover my skin imperfections; to try to hide them, or at least to make them seem less noticeable. Nevertheless, makeup never does remove the issue, nor does it change the condition of my skin. Makeup only temporarily covers the existing problem and can even lead to making the problem worse than it was before.
However, there are “blemishes” that are more than skin deep. There are imperfections in our lives—in our characters—which we are inclined to conceal, cover, and hide from becoming exposed. When we cover up the blemishes in our characters, the problems are not removed. They are only hidden from the surface until a circumstance or situation comes along and applies pressure, thus revealing the issue.
Each one of us is sensitive to some form of pressure that we tend to cave to. This can be manifested in different ways. Pressure can occur with a heated situation, someone’s unkindness, or injustice. Maybe it’s being with a group of friends who are making compromises against what you know to be right. Pressure might come in the form of envy, threats to your reputation, or whatever your vulnerable spot is. What we do and how we are in these situations, in these pivotal moments, reveals our true character.
Sometimes, instead of seeking to address our issues, we seek to bury our character blemishes with “spiritual” makeup. We have a form of godliness, outwardly indicating what we know to be right, but have not transformed the heart (2 Timothy 3:5). We put our best cover-up on around others, or on Sabbath, only to find that our true characters are later revealed. Our true character is who we are every day of the week, who we are when we think no one is watching, or how we act when we aren’t intentionally putting on our best. Our true character is how we talk about others. It’s how we handle strife or wrongs. Our true character is in the behavior we condone or imitate; it is in our boundaries, what we watch, what we read, and what we do on social media or with our friends.
Our true character is revealed when pressure is applied, not when we put on our spiritual makeup.
Spiritual makeup is not a true solution. Our character transformation can only come from Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit. We must first recognize our need for true change and not be satisfied with our failing human methods. We must daily ask Him to help us to surrender and place our lives in His hands, so we are molded to be more and more like Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit. “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible” (Mark 10:27).
Call to Action
We cannot go to Heaven with spiritual makeup upon our characters. Our solution comes from above, from the One who has promised to sanctify and transform our characters to reflect His. We must be discontent with our failing strategies and lay them down at Jesus’ feet. We must ask Him to change, purge, cleanse, and transform the imperfect blemishes in our characters and our lives and to make us new. We must ask God to give us the Holy Spirit, to help us recognize our great need for His work in our lives. The pressures we are facing now are a training ground for the things to come in the final days of Earth’s history. This isn’t something to make us feel fearful. It is to lead us to realize our desperate need and total dependency upon Jesus, for it is only by Him and in Him we will be ready. In these days, we must ask God to create in us a clean heart and renew a steadfast spirit in us (Psalms 51:10).
We must surrender everything we are and everything we have to Jesus. We must allow the Holy Spirit to work in every area of our hearts, characters, and lives.
I want the fruits of the Spirit manifested in every area of my life and every circumstance. This is only possible with Jesus abiding and living His life in me. “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Will you join me in asking God to impart His Solution in our lives?
All scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
