My Secret Sin
My Secret Sin
Oh, sweet friends, can we just get real? Can we get incredibly honest – at least with ourselves? Can we acknowledge that we have some sin that we keep hanging onto, whitewashing and pretending it is not so bad. Can we admit that it stands between us and our relationship with God? We are paying a huge price to hang onto this sin. It is costing us intimacy with our Savior. There should be nothing in our life that we long for more than intimacy with Jesus.
Secret sin is costly. Think you don’t have any secret sins? You do. The problem is they tend to be things that the world says is acceptable. Yet God’s ways are not like the world’s ways. We have been called to be set apart and that means not going along with the crowd. So how do we go about exposing our secret sin?
In Psalms 139, David celebrated God’s intimate knowledge of him. He declared that God knows us completely – our thoughts, our motives, and our desires. He knows the condition of our heart. There is no place for us to tuck away our secret sin where God won’t see it. He misses nothing. So, what are we to do? We are to cry out – just as David did in verses 23-24:
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
First, we must acknowledge that we have sin and stop sugar coating it or sweeping it under the rug. We need to acknowledge it, expose it and allow God to deal with it. “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” I John 1:8
Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Let’s keep going. Proverbs 8:13 tells us, “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate.” So… this verse makes it clear that God hates evil – which is any action, thought or attitude that is contrary to the character and will of God. He hates pride – which is the desire to be first or best or to be recognized or to receive the credit or glory. He hates arrogance – which is esteeming ourselves better than others as if we are better, smarter or more important. He hates our misbehavior – which is stepping outside of His will in our actions, thoughts and behaviors. And He hates perverse speech – which is when we use our words for evil purposes – cursing or foul language, gossiping, and dishonesty or lying. God says He hates these things. That is strong language. If He hates these things, shouldn’t we hate that we do these things?
How do we come to hate these secret sins we have tucked away?
· The more we come to know God, the more we will hate our sin. We get to know God more by spending more time in His word and in prayer. As we come to Him earnestly in prayer we will be convicted of our own sin, leading us to a deeper relationship with God. “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” Psalm 119:11
· As we come to know God more, we better understand the consequences of sin – the price we pay. It is very costly. It is what separates us from God; what enslaves us and denies us true freedom; and what has brought so much devastation in our lives and this world in which we live. The consequences steal our peace and our joy. “Jesus answered them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.’”
· As we study God’s word and we understand the source of our sin, the more we hate our sin. We all know that Satan is the originator of sin. Yes, even oursin. He tempts us and entices us to return to our former ways. The struggle is real, but so is Jesus! Satan has been defeated and in the name of Jesus we have overcome. “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” Romans 13:14
· As we grow to know God more, we come to love Him more and more. Why would we want to grieve the heart of the One we love? God’s word tells us “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with ill malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” Ephesians 4:30-32
Lastly, let’s look at Proverbs 28:13, “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.” We no longer love our sin, matter of fact, we hate that we sin at all. Satan wants us to conceal it and pretend it is not there. Therefore, defeating our sin is a spiritual battle. We fight as we stay committed to growing our relationship with God. Like David, we cry out and ask Him to search us and reveal any evil that lies within us. Once exposed, we confess it, and defeat it. 1 John 2:14 says, “Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one.” Because of who Jesus is and what He has done, we can live victorious! We have victory in Christ! And all His girls said… “Amen!”
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