Costumes (Friday Devotional)

 

O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely.

- Psalm 139:1-4

In neighborhoods across the country, tonight you’ll hear the same cry at every doorstep: “Trick or treat!” Smiling adults will drop fun-sized candy bars into plastic orange buckets. Parents will find their entire vocabularies reduced to two exclamations, “slow down!” and “remember to say thank you!” And most importantly, every child (not to mention plenty of teenagers and adults) will be wearing a costume.

That’s part of the fun of Halloween, of course. Whether you opt for something scary like a vampire or a werewolf, something corporate and recognizable like a Minion or one of the Avengers, or you go with one of those punny getups that you have to explain—see, I’m wearing a beret and holding a piece of bread; I’m French toast—everybody gets to spend the evening pretending to be something they’re not.

Of course, Halloween isn’t the only time we do that. Not really. When you’re at your wit’s end and the cashier asks how you’re doing, you smile and say, “Doing great.” When you want to make a good impression on someone, you laugh at their jokes even when they’re not that funny. When you show up to church on Sunday morning, you wear nicer clothes than you did on Saturday and match it with better manners and a brighter smile. Costumes and make believe, it seems, aren’t reserved for October 31.

But eventually you want to take your costume off and be yourself. You want someone who knows you fully, not just the version of yourself that you present in public. So there’s relief in knowing that the Lord knows you as no one else does—just as there is no hiding from God, there is no fooling him either. He sees you as you truly are—and he loves you anyway.

Costumes can be fun, but the truth is liberating. What a blessing to know that God sees past our disguises to the people he created in his image. And what joy to know that Jesus didn’t die on the cross to save the person you pretend to be—he did it to save you.