I enjoy disarming people. I find it to be a challenge. I take pleasure in breaking down the barriers that impede personal interchanges that are genuine. I interact with very polished professional people every single day. They are intelligent and articulate. I consistently learn something from such individuals’. But they can also be full of phony bologna. (In Texas we call phony bologna something else actually…) And that is precisely why there is a need for disarming.

When I intermingle with someone whose interpersonal communication is very polished, I immediately go into disarming mode. I know intuitively that it takes forethought and practice to be refined in the way we talk to another person. When I am visiting with someone who is very polished, I find myself going into disarming mode. If I can disarm them, then my time with that person can be characterized by authenticity.

I used this quote in a sermon recently: The carefully spoken word may be calculated hypocrisy. I have found that to be true. When every word is weighed, it is not always coming from the heart. It is just good to let our guard down and speak plainly and simply from the heart.

Who can you disarm this week? Do you work with someone who appears to be very polished on the surface? Don’t you wonder what is really lurking in their heart? Underneath the shiny veneer that same individual may be in great pain and in need of a kind friend. The refined surface is nothing more than very well done acting otherwise known as calculated hypocrisy.

People are good at putting on masks. The educated and bright among us are especially proficient at creating facades. But it is all an act. The polish is a very thin outer layer of their personality. Someone must disarm them.

I would issue a plea this first week of a new year to do what it takes to gently pull back the masks and break down the facades. Give someone the freedom to be themselves around you! Allow your friends the freedom to speak spontaneously and from the heart. I don’t want those around me to feel compelled to put on some sort of an act, because it can turn into calculated hypocrisy.