Secret Sins

"But the Lord said to Samuel, Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart."

- 1 Samuel 16:12

In Romans it mentions that on that day God will judge the secrets of men. In Ecclesiastes 12, it also says that God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. All sin is an assault against God, whether it is done in public or in secret. And God, who beholds even the innermost secrets of the heart, sees our sin clearly, no matter how well we think we have covered it.

I know for me, sinning secretly in the past actually intensifies my guilt, because it adds the sin of hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is a grave sin in its own right. It also produces guilt, because by definition hypocrisy entails the concealing of sin. And the only remedy for any kind of sin involves uncovering our guilt through sincere confession.

Now by saying secret sin, I am not just talking about lust, although that could be a secret sin that one has, but I more so talking about sins that we do in our private life, that no one knows about. These sins could be anything from gambling, to cheating on a spouse, to pornography, to the ways you think, to how you spend your time, to the secret idols of your heart, and so on...

I think our secret life is the real test of our character. We should all take a hard look at our private life and be honest with ourselves and confess to God and ask for help. Having accountability partners helping us with our secret sins is extremely important as well. History repeatedly proves that our sin will find us out. We will never regret being transparent about this issue. The longer we wait the farther we’ll fall. The sooner we confess, the sooner we’ll find freedom. In James, we are told to confess our sins to one another and to pray for one another, that we may be healed. So let us do that.