March 2004

ARTICLE TOOLS

Find similar articles E-mail this page

"God hath given you one face, and you make yourselves another" is the William Shakespeare epigram on this book's dust jacket. It beautifully summarizes our fear of authenticity. How do we drop the masks we've crafted for ourselves and become who God has made us to be?

"The time has come for those of us who say we are 'doin' just fine' to acknowledge the truth: We are not fine, not fine at all," the authors write.

They are all involved in Leadership Catalyst, "an international resource for helping leaders learn how to develop relationships of trust and environments of grace." As they write with one voice about the root causes of why we wear masks, they also show how we can strip them off. Masks, they believe, are often the result of our guilt or our hurt over something done to us. In order to become "truefaced," we must resolve our shame and anger. We must also release ourselves from the bondage of performance, and the belief that we can resolve our sin ourselves. True authenticity comes when we trust God and live in his love and grace.

This is a quick but meaty read with life-changing potential.

Cindy Crosby is the author of By Willoway Brook: Exploring the Landscape of Prayer (Paraclete, 2003).

Copyright © 2004 Christianity Today.Click for reprint information.