Joe Walsh sang about living, “A Life Of Illusion”, and perhaps we have all felt like that at times.

Confused by what to do, where to go, who we want to be, and to help figure it all out we try on different “faces”, or personas to see what fits best. Maybe we are one way at work, act another at home, another way at church, and still another way with our friends.

Yet, this doesn’t have to be the case. Before I surrendered my life to Christ I definitely lived this life of illusion and injuring myself because of it.

I would partake in the party life with friends, and the professional life at work. I didn’t have a church life, and my home life was hanging on by a thread.

However, the hypocrisy finally began collapsing in on me, and I’m grateful for it – for it provided the pressure God knew I needed to get my attention. As a result, I finally surrendered my life to Christ.

Eventually, I discovered my life began unifying. I wasn’t pretending anymore, or trying to be something I wasn’t. My identity took shape – Freed by Christ to be who He created me to be, and discovering who that was as defined by Him.

May sound odd, but my home life now matched my work life, and my church life. I was the same person in all places and at all times, even when no one was watching. Not perfect by any means, but now a work in progress.

I can’t begin to describe the freedom this creates. A Christ filled life is an abundant life. We no longer have to be confused by culture, but can know truth, and we no longer have to feel like everything is an illusion, including who we truly are.

We begin to have a voice as a unique member in the body of Christ, rather than simply being an echo to the pressures of cultural conformities.

Living a double life, and even hiding a private life, is an exhausting and anxious way to live – and it doesn’t have to be that way. Freedom, clarity, and integrity comes when we surrender to the ultimate authority of God and choose Jesus as our Lord.