Wounded to Wonderful: From DECEIT to TRUTH

For just a minute I want you to think about this question. When you think about an authentic person, what comes to mind? What makes that person authentic? When I think of authentic people I think of someone who is comfortable in their own skin. They don’t hide their mistakes nor do they lead with them, they are just real. We want others to be authentic and we want to be authentic, but because we are wounded, we are afraid to be real.
 
The only way we will become the authentic people that God wants us to be is to let God turn our wounds into something wonderful. He can and will redeem them if we make the choice to stop hiding them. But if we don’t deal with deceit, fear, anger, shame, and loss, they will impact every area of our life. Each of the five wounds are significant because they impact us in profound ways.
 
Our inner wounds always manifest themselves in external ways. Our wounds are revealed when we lose our temper, in our lack of transparency with friends, in various forms of addiction. All of us our wounded and these wounds bleed over into all other areas of life.
 
Where did we get these wounds? Some of the wounds we have come from our childhood, from parents or teachers or coaches. Wounds can come from anyone and anywhere, and unless we deal with them we learn to mask them.   
 
If you want to find inner healing you are going to have to look within and get in touch with your real feelings, needs, and values. This can be painful, but how would your life be different right now if you let God transform your wounds into something wonderful? Rather than trying to mask the wound, what if you let Jesus redeem it and use it for his glory? Let’s do some work in this area right now and expose our first wound, the wound of deceit.
 
There are three questions that we need to ask ourselves in order to defeat deceit. The first question is, what is the lie I tell myself? Think back on your childhood for a minute. What wounds do you see? Who wounded you? What is the lie that you have told yourself ever since you received this wound? Do you even believe it’s a lie? The wounds we have echo in our heads on either a conscious or subconscious level and they impact everything.
 
This leads into the second question we need to ask ourselves: What is the mask I wear to cover my wound? We wear masks to protect ourselves from scrutiny and judgment and to keep up our public image. Here are a few more examples of the masks we wear to cover our wounds.  
 

• The hero mask.
• The martyr mask.
• The pacifist mask..
• The uber-successful mask.
• The ‘I don’t need anybody’ mask.
• The ‘got everything under control’ mask.
• The joker mask.
• The critical mask.
• The ‘I’m a person of influence’ mask.
• The sarcastic mask.
• The ‘know it all’ mask.
• The ‘holier than thou’ mask.

 
We also mask our wounds with things and stuff. We fill our lives with all the bells and whistles or superficial relationships because we want everybody else to think we have it all together. When we do that, it can result in anxiety, depression, restlessness, frustration, addiction, and lack of meaning and fulfillment in life. So what mask do you wear to cover your wound?    
 
The third question is, what is the truth that I need to tell myself? I am……..what? Here are a few of God’s truths that will override the lies, help you take off your mask, and heal your wounds.
 
I am loved. 1 John 3:3
I am accepted. Ephesians 1:6
I am a child of God. John 1:12
I am Jesus' friend. John 15:14
I am a temple of God. His Spirit and his life lives in me. 1 Corinthians 6:19
I am a member of Christ's body. 1 Corinthians 12:27
I am a Saint. Ephesians 1:1
I am redeemed and forgiven. Colossians 1:14
I am complete in Jesus Christ. Colossians 2:10
I am free from condemnation. Romans 8:1
I am a new creation because I am in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17
 
God wants to meet you in your pain. He loves the real you. Telling yourself God’s truth is the first step in letting Him heal your wound and turn it into something wonderful. So let’s face our wounds, drop our masks and claim the truth over our lives.