passion @ uwa

You hold my every moment
You calm my raging seas
You walk with me through fire
And heal all my disease

I trust in You
I trust in You

I believe You're my Healer
I believe You are all I need
I believe You're my Portion
I believe You're more than enough for me
Jesus You're all I need

My Healer, You're my Healer

Nothing is impossible for You
Nothing is impossible for You
Nothing is impossible for You
You hold my world in Your hands

Many of us know this song very well and it has probably been the song to carry us through the hard and difficult times of hurt and suffering just as it has impacted thousands of other Christian believers. Personally, it is one of my all time favorite worship songs because it talks about raw worship, that is total surrender to God, believing and trusting in Him for the impossible. However, not many of us know the story behind the song, the story about the writer and composer of this very power song, Mike Guglielmucci.

In short, Mike was a pastor, worship leader, musician and song writer who impacted the youth of Australia with his dynamic sharing and convicting messages. He even wrote many of the other songs we sing in church today. However, in 2008, Mike admitted to the world that he had been faking an incurable illness for over 2 years, fooling everybody including his own wife, parents and church congregation. Over the 2 years, he had receive donations and a lot of support from other believers from around the world. Nobody knew he was faking it all the time and when he finally came clean, it rocked the Christian world. More info at http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24232365-5006787,00.html

So why am I sharing this? The very first thing that i said about this guy when i heard about the news is "this guy is a hypocrite!". At first, I was very sad and shocked to hear about it but then the anger and frustration set in. I remember talking to one of my friends about it and really just venting my feelings about this guy, what he did and just talking really bad about him. When I finally did cool down and start to think about it, I believe God spoke to me.

"What makes you so different from this guy? Is his sin greater and bigger than yours? No. It's just that whatever he has done has been found out but nobody knows about the sinful things you have done." Wow. A painful reminder.

I believe that God used Mike as a reminder for all of us that we are no different form him, it's just nobody knows what is really going on in our hearts and lives except God himself. I think it's important to check the contents of our hearts and lives with God first. Hypocrisy is about hiding. Hiding from others, who you really are. The easiest way to do this is by wearing a mask. It could be a mask of ministry, a mask of sweet words or a mask of deception, just like Mike. The truth is, we probably have all used masks before, some of us might still be using them, in fear that people will know the 'real' us.

We're more concerned about the way we look to other people that we forget that it's about the condition of our hearts. We are afraid of what people will think of us and in the end, we forget that it is what God thinks of us that really matters. "Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart" 1 Samuel 16:7 and it is very true, we judge people by the way they look and their appearances, their outward masks. When we want to impress people, we focus on the outward appearance and paint a better, more beautiful mask and we don't deal with the matters of the heart.

Soooo...... how do we go about dealing with this problem of hypocrisy? 1 John 1:7 "But if we walk in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His son cleanses us from sin." Simply put it, walk in the light, be truthful, in the open, not hiding, no mask, just you in the beautiful light. I think that is what Mike did, he came clean and open, into the light and exposed what he had been hiding in darkness for years. I believe that he is doing much better now and God is healing him. Now i think it's just a testimony about the reality and the need for truth in the Christian walk and our realtionships. 1 John 1:6 "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth."

It's about coming clean into the light even though it might compromise what other people think of you but hey, it's really about what God thinks about us that matters! Without these masks, we won't judge people the same way as well. We'll see them through God's eyes and understand that we're all saved by His grace, no one better than the other and therefore, we have no reason to judge.

At the end of the day, we're meant to live in the freedom not hiding behind our masks, so let's take off our crowns of pride, remove our masks and walk in the light!

lotsa luuurrrveee,
~stano