From the 2014 edition of ‘Reading Read’, main article ‘Hiding Your Demons’
After their appearance at Reading Festival last year, Imagine Dragons have made the big step up to the main stage. This is probably in no small part due to the success of their hit single Demons.
With brutal honesty, the song speaks of the ugly side to our lives that we all know exists, but try to hide from others: “I want to shelter you” from the “beast inside”. “Don’t get too close”, the singer warns his lover.
As the music video shows, often our baggage is caused by others and is not our fault. But the challenge is whether we’re willing to admit that there are times when we’re not the completely innocent party.
It’s been said, “you are what you are when nobody is watching”. The power of the song is that it taps into a fear we all have: if people find out what I’m really like, they’ll want nothing to do with me. To be truly known but not loved is our greatest fear.
Instead, we mask up, shut up shop and don’t let others in. Friendships become based on shared interests and joking around without the space to truly open ourselves up and be vulnerable. Ultimately it’s this option Demons seems to conclude with, pushing the lover away: “I need to let you go”. But the outcome isn’t great, because to be loved but not known is just superficial. Do we really have to settle with pushing our loved ones away, and wearing a mask all the time?
What if I told you that Jesus Christ offers the answer to this ‘mess’? God, the one who we most expect to condemn us for our failings, can deal with our guilt and brokenness. We can be truly known yet deeply loved by him. Knowing all the skeletons in your closet, God – in Jesus – went to the cross, loving you to death. Jesus suffered the penalty we deserve from God for the wrongs we have done and hurt we have caused – he tasted hell in the place of everyone who relies on his forgiveness and asks God back into their lives. He can also bring healing to hurts in our lives caused by others. He beat death by rising again to give us evidence of a new and better world coming, one where all that is wrong in this world is ultimately dealt with.
How do we get all this? By saying sorry to God for the wrong way we’ve been living, and make a turning point in our lives to listen to God and ask for his help. As we rely on Jesus to pay for our guilt on the cross, we are given a real relationship with God through Jesus and what he has done. Does this raise questions? Watch short videos discussing further at ReadingRead.com