The Unmasking
In “The Final Unmasking” Macdonald asks the question, “Will all my weaknesses, evil habits, pettiness’s, and wrong thoughts I cannot help be revealed to all?” Jesus says, “The time is coming when everything that is covered up will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all.” (Luke 12:2 NLT). “If we can face, with humility, the revelation of the hidden, then we are of the truth and need not be afraid. Because, whatever happens, it will make us faithful, humble, and pure.”
Love
“God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first. 1 John 4: 16-19 NLT
Real righteousness is characterized by a lack of fear. Those without fear are the ones who have come to know that our Heavenly Father is good, always and forever good, and this goodness convicts and convinces us that all judgment is redemptive. That is, that we no longer need to hide and protect that part of us that we know and realize is dark, from God’s liberating light. If we accept all judgment as redemptive and not punitive, then full exposure means liberation. To be judged by Jesus, the Cosmos’ greatest lover, is to experience love at the hands of that great Lover!
Freedom
This growing freedom expresses itself in being quick to repent and more unrestrained in forgiveness to ourselves and others. Many years ago, a visiting missionary made a profound statement that sums up this reality, “Mental and spiritual health is when the outside person and the inside person are in fact the same person!” Then, this divine judgment acts as the catalyst, the spark, that lights the refiner’s and consuming fires of love.
No religious system or salvation plan can address and provide our overwhelming desire and need to be good as our Heavenly Father is good. None can provide the confidence and assurance our hearts require. This common-sense conviction of righteousness comes from our very consciousness. Nothing short of giving ourselves to the process of wholeness, becoming what we truly are, not just a hypocrite clothed in white, but an earthen vessel filled with light and goodness. The cry of the righteous is “more Lord,” give me more judgment, more light, more of your liberating love!
This is the introductory blog for the following sermon: