When my kids were younger, they were obsessed with the movie, “The Master of Disguise”. In this film, the title character is developing the “super” ability to disguise himself. 

It’s a funny film. Dana Carvey is brilliant at mimicking accents and mannerisms, and this movie shows off that talent. There are lots of quotable lines that my kids would repeat over and over. And over…

Their favorite line happened when Carvey’s character was learning to harness the power of “energico” so he could go beyond just wearing a costume and make-up. He repeated the mantra, “become another person” until he did. Pistachio Disguisey was replaced with whatever character he needed to become.

I was thinking of that this week because of all the focus on costumes. Dressing up can be very fun. But too many people wear more than just a costume or mask, and they wear it far longer than just one day a year.

Did you know the word “hypocrite” has its roots in dressing up? In ancient Greek theater, actors wore huge masks with different faces – happy, sad, frightened, surprised – because the audience was too far away to see their actual faces. The masks were larger than life and allowed the audience to know the “mood” of the characters on stage. These actors were hypocrites.

I think a lot of people – adults AND teens – walk around like these actors. We wear “masks”, acting like everything is fine, or awful, or terrible, or funny, or whatever. We don’t let anyone see what’s really going on. We’re not honest, not transparent. We work hard to “become another person,” mostly because we’re unhappy or embarrassed by the person we actually are.

We are hypocrites.

People get so worked up about Halloween – is it okay or not okay to dress up on this holiday? And I recognize that debate is a serious one for many people. But I think visible costumes one day a year are far less dangerous than the invisible ones we wear the other 364 days.

Beware of the temptation to “become another person.” That’s fine for film. But the abundant life demands that we shed our masks and be honest – honest to God, above all, and then honest to others.

“He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.” ~Proverbs 28:13