Books

Discarding Our Masks

In True Faced, readers learn to strip off their masks.

TRUE FACED: Trust God and Others with Who You Really Are
TRUE FACED: Trust God and Others with Who You Really Are
TRUE FACED:Trust God and Otherswith Who YouReally Are Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol, and John Lynch NavPress, 224 pp., $19.99

“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.

Copyright © 2004 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Related Elsewhere:

Also posted today is an excerpt from the book.

True Faced is available from Amazon.com and other book retailers.

More information is available from the publisher.

Other leadership books are available from the Leadership Catalyst web site.

Also in this issue

The Passion of Mel Gibson: Why Evangelicals are Cheering a 'Catholic' Film

Cover Story

The Passion of Mel Gibson

Network for the Alienated

Border Crackdown

Cry, the Beloved Continent

Discarding Our Masks

Editorial

Forget Your Bliss

Incarnate Forever

Inside <em>CT</em>: Coming Attractions

Islamic Board Gets Green Light

Misfires in the Tolerance Wars

Black Theology Revisited

Quake Opens Door to Gospel

News

Quotation Marks

Jesus' Cross

Relationships, Not Programs

The Good News of God's Wrath

Vacation Bible School Wars

Worship Style Matters

A Home for Nomads

News

Multi(per)plexed

News

Go Figure

News

Passages

The Fountain Fill'd wth Blood

A Law that Shouldn't be Cloned

Hindu Extremes

Q & A: Franklin Graham

News

Challenging Canyon Orthodoxy

The Passion of Mel Gibson

The Passion and Prejudice

How the Late Carl Henry Helped Invent Evangelicalism

Burma's Almost Forgotten

A Politics of Gratitude

Editorial

A Question of Faith

America's Pastor

An Unusual Church of Christ

View issue

Our Latest

From Our Community

Storing Up Kingdom Treasure

Greenbriar Equity Group chairman and founding partner Regg Jones urges fellow Christians to invest in the next generation of Christ followers.

Gen Z Is More Than Just Anxious

What the church gets wrong—and what it can get right—about forming a generation shaped by screens and longing for purpose.

Don’t Pay Attention. Give It.

Attention isn’t a resource to maximize for productivity. It’s a gift that helps us love God and neighbor.

Faith-Based Education Is Having a Moment

I’m excited to see churches—particularly Black congregations—step boldly into teaching.

Being Human

Sex and Porn Addiction, Misconceptions That Prevent Healing with Matt Wenger

Porn addiction: An intimacy issue, not just a sexual one

The Russell Moore Show

 Listener Question: How Can I Have Friendships with Atheists?

 Russell answers a listener question about how to have meaningful relationships with atheists.

The National Guard Debate Needs a Dose of Honesty

Criticizing federal overreach while remaining silent about local failures does not serve the cause of justice.

High Time for an Honest Conversation about THC

Legal cannabis may be here to stay, but the Christian conversation is just getting started.

Apple PodcastsDown ArrowDown ArrowDown Arrowarrow_left_altLeft ArrowLeft ArrowRight ArrowRight ArrowRight Arrowarrow_up_altUp ArrowUp ArrowAvailable at Amazoncaret-downCloseCloseEmailEmailExpandExpandExternalExternalFacebookfacebook-squareGiftGiftGooglegoogleGoogle KeephamburgerInstagraminstagram-squareLinkLinklinkedin-squareListenListenListenChristianity TodayCT Creative Studio Logologo_orgMegaphoneMenuMenupausePinterestPlayPlayPocketPodcastRSSRSSSaveSaveSaveSearchSearchsearchSpotifyStitcherTelegramTable of ContentsTable of Contentstwitter-squareWhatsAppXYouTubeYouTube