Soul Toupee – April 21, 2021

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:8,9

Soul Toupee

Tim Kreider is a cartoonist. He is a gifted writer. He is also the man who has coined the term “Soul Toupee.” He explains its origin. He and a friend used to frequent an oyster bar in Baltimore, MD. One day they noticed how one of the regulars there wore what Kreider calls “the worst toupee in the world, a comical little wig taped in place on the top of his head.” From that, Kreider and his friend developed the concept of what he calls “The Soul Toupee.”

Kreider’s definition for the Soul Toupee is as follows: The Soul Toupee is that thing about ourselves we are most deeply embarrassed by and like to think we have…concealed to the world, but which is, in fact, pitifully obvious. Then Kreider adds this: Contemplating one’s own Soul Toupee is not an exercise for the fainthearted.

The soul toupee is nothing new. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us, the apostle John wrote. A holy God sees through the soul toupees. Every single one.

What’s your soul toupee? What ugly, sinful rut have you been trying to cover up or camouflage for far, far too long? Is it laziness, lust, greed, pride, a sense of entitlement, ducking responsibility, blaming others? Or is it the absence of self-discipline or raw self-absorption?

Whatever it is, the same holy God who sees through all the toupees also gives us a beautiful promise. When we confess our sins, John says, [God] is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. God makes this promise on the basis of his Son, Jesus Christ, who has lived a holy life in our place and suffered and died on the cross for our every sin. Christ alone saves us. Soul toupees be gone.

Prayer:
Lord God, move me to confess what I have been hiding the most. Forgive me. Give me peace in Jesus. Amen.