Secrets

“Secrets don’t make friends,” as the saying goes, but not all secrets are bad. Often when Jesus would heal someone He would tell them not to tell anyone about it. Not everyone listened to this, of course, but those who did were then keeping a secret. When Jesus taught about giving, prayer, and fasting he said to do it in secret and God, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

“But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” ‭‭(Matthew‬ ‭6:3-4‬)

“But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:6)

“‘And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.’” (Matthew 6:16-18)

“God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad.” (Ecclesiastes 12:14)

When Jesus talked about secrets, it was keeping good things secret so as to keep us humble. We don’t need to brag about how often we pray or how much we give or when we fast—these are private matters between us and God. But some secrets should not be kept and will in fact be revealed to everyone. According to Ecclesiastes, God will judge every secret thing, whether good or bad—so some secrets are good and some are bad. What are those bad secrets?

“The time is coming when everything that is covered up will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all.” (Luke 12:2)

“When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, ‘I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.’ And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone. Therefore, let all the godly pray to you while there is still time, that they may not drown in the floodwaters of judgment.” (Psalm 32:3-6)

Sins that we try to keep hidden, ones we refuse to confess, those are the bad secrets. When we refuse to confess our sins we experience the same thing David did: our bodies waste away, we groan all day and night, and God’s hand of discipline is heavy upon us. Do you feel constantly frustrated but don’t know why? Do you feel annoyed or angry but can’t really put your finger on a cause? Do you feel depressed or is guilt slowly eating away at you? Get rid of that unconfessed sin! As the writer of Hebrews put it, throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. Perhaps there’s something you are doing that you know is wrong, that you are trying to keep hidden. Cry out to God and confess your sins to Him. David urges us to pray to God while there is still time. The day of judgment is coming where everything that is covered up will be revealed. Give it over to God and lay it at the cross. And after you have confessed it, you must repent of it. You must turn away from it and walk in the direction of Christ. Don’t keep living in that sin.

If the sin you are hiding is against someone else, like a sexual sin would be against your spouse, then you must also confess that sin to the person you are sinning against. Take advantage of God’s patience and come clean with all your secrets while there is still time; either you come out with it or God will. Every secret is going to come out eventually. Do you want to come clean or do you want God to reveal it to all and risk drowning in the floodwaters of judgment? Some will say it’s not a lie to do something wrong and not tell anyone about it, but that isn’t true. If a seller failed to note a known defect with the property on the real estate disclosure form, is that okay? No, it’s called lying by omission, legally defined as: “Fraud By Omission, the suppression or omission of a material fact which a party is bound in good faith to disclose is equivalent to a false representation, since it constitutes an indirect representation that such fact does not exist.” Someone that does that would risk a cancellation of the sale of the property and possible lawsuits. Omitting things when you are bound in good faith to disclose them is lying. You are bound in good faith to disclose everything to your spouse. Perhaps there’s something you are doing that you know is wrong, that you are trying to keep hidden.

“Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.” (James 4:17)

If you know what you ought to do and yet you chose not to do it, then it is a sin. If you know you ought to come clean but choose not to, for whatever reason—you’re just too afraid of how the person will react, how much it will hurt them, what damage it may cause—it’s a sin. Men are told to love their wives as Jesus loves the church, so think about it: does Jesus deceive the church? Does He hide things from the body of believers? Neither should we deceive our wives or hide things from them.

“And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.” (John 3:19)

“Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, ‘I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.’” (John 8:12)

“For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light!” (Ephesians 5:8) 

Secrets have to be kept in the dark. As soon as a light is shone on them, they are no longer secrets. In order to have a secret you need some kind of dark place to keep it, but if we are walking in the light of Christ, there can and should be no darkness in our lives. How then can we keep secrets in a dark place if we have the light of Christ? Let Jesus light up every dark corner of your life. Come clean with those bad secrets, those unconfessed sins, and accept the forgiveness and discipline for those sins while there is still time. Don’t deny the one you have sinned against the opportunity to forgive you. Let all your secrets out. Either you can or God will.

(And if you are the one to whom the secrets are being revealed, realize that confessing sins is an act of obedience to God. Remember all that God has forgiven you and remember that Jesus told us if we do not forgive those who sin against us, God will not forgive us our sins. Show grace and offer forgiveness.)

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

—Redeemed