Secret sins. What are “secret sins?”  How do they affect us, and how can we shake ourselves free of them forever?  Let’s start by acknowledging that we all have secret sins, and you probably know what yours are.  They range from angry, impure or judgmental thoughts, all the way to deliberately doing something while trying to hide or conceal it from others.

At the core of every secret sin is that we don’t want others to know.  We try to hide our bad thoughts or deeds from everyone, including God and ourselves because we are ashamed.  We are just like Adam and Eve when they covered their naked bodies with leaves and tried to hide from God after eating the forbidden fruit.

Yes, we’re good at hiding.  We deny we have a problem, so we hide from the truth.  We deny that we struggle with dark thoughts, so we never would dream of getting help or sharing our concerns with others.  We conceal things we’ve done wrong – like erasing the history on a computer browser – and pretend nothing happened.

“Don’t tell anyone” – is what Satan tells us.  After all, what would people think if they discovered our dark thoughts, imperfections or problems?  “Never expose your dirty underwear!” is one of Satan’s favorite battle cries because it leaves us fighting alone without the strength of God or the encouragement of others to help us. So, our secret sins push us deeper and deeper into isolation.

Here, in a self-imposed hiding, we feel unlovable, and the burden of secret sins weighs heavy as we try to fight on – all alone, apart from others and feeling estranged from God.  Can you feel the exhaustion?  Are you tired of living in darkness?  Hidden. Alone. Self-Absorbed. Claustrophobic. Yes, sin feels restricting, oppressive and suffocating because it is.

So, what can we do? How do we get out? Who will help me?

Let’s start by looking in the very opposite direction of secret sin. The Bible says, “Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your justice like the great deep” (Psalm 36:5 NIV).

Can you hear the difference?  Wide open spaces, bright skies all the way up to heaven! Imagine mighty mountains and vast seas! THAT is what the love of God can do! That is God’s outstretched arm reaching into the dirty pit we’ve crawled into and inviting us to live in his light. To live in his endless, spacious freedom!

Can you taste it!!

What is it that reaches to the heavens? Your love, Lord!  Yes, incredibly, God’s love for us is so enormous that it reaches the heavens!  His love is as majestic as the highest mountains and as endless as the ocean, but there is even more! The Bible goes on to say that we get to “Feast on the abundance of your house, and you give us drink from the river of your delights” (Psalm 36:8).

This means that God gives his abundance to those who turn to him.  When we run to God for help, when we truly seek him, he will give us everything we need to make the right decisions and find the freedom we so long for.

Feel the spaciousness, the loveliness of opening our hearts to God compared to the claustrophobic, hidden and dark nature of sin!  Secret sins may feel overpowering to us, but God is on our side, ready to walk with us back into the light.  Best of all, it is a battle that God has already won!

Let’s pray: Oh Jesus, please help us to move out of the cramped life of sin and self-pity. We know you want what is best for us, so help us Lord, even for our own sake, to spend time with you, to live with you, in the spaciousness of your freedom and grace. Instead of cowering in secrecy and shame, please help us turn to you and the right people for help. May your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.