Everyone has a secret, something they’ve thought, said or done they haven’t told anyone else about. Put another way, not one of us has disclosed to someone everything we ever thought, said or done that we know we shouldn’t have. And even if it were somehow possible to disclose it all to someone, I am certain that they would not be able to bear it all.
Yet, there are some “secrets” that we know are entangling us. These “secrets” weigh us down in our mind and heart. We know we should confess them, but we don’t, we won’t, we can’t. Freedom is so close, but we trust these three “secrets” sin tells us:
“Confess me to only God and you will be rid of me”
God always forgives, but He also wants to deliver. There’s a power to deliver us bound up in our confession to others that is not found in our confession to God alone. We may again and again return to our sin and again and again ask God to forgive us. But overtime we will begin to recognize that something else must be done, if we’re going to be free of this.
Sin tries to convince us that we can change on our own, that we need “confess to only God and no one else”. But true freedom only comes when in humility you step into the light and find someone you can tell your secret to. Being caught in your sin is not the same experience as, in your refusal to continue in your sin, coming forward in repentance.
“I am your biggest failure”
Whether you love God or something else, love demands all. “If you love me, open up your heart to me.” (Judges 16:15-17) Little by little you give of yourself, until a moment arrives when you’ve given your heart away.
In that moment sin will whisper, “I am your biggest failure.” We see no recovery or redemption after this. But our sin is not our greatest failure. Our greatest failure is in that moment turning away from God and not repenting of our sin. It’s God’s kindness that leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4). You are not alone in your sin, because God wants to lead you into, not away from, His heart.
“You have no future”
In moments of defeat, sin will whisper to you, “You have no future” and steal your hope. But God comes in the darkness and whispers a secret of His own: “I love you, I called you, and I forgive you.” How do we know this is true? Our obedience can’t make up for our past sins. So we must look to something else, to someone else.
Jesus, the Son of God, obeyed and loved God fully. He was betrayed, not by his sin, but by ours. We led him to the cross to die. But like Samson carrying away the gates of the city (Judges 16), Jesus took hold of our sins, pulled them up, put them on his shoulders, and carried them up the hill to the cross. There he died in our place, and in his death took our sin, our enemies, our death, and our life without a future. And then he rose from death with our life, forgiveness, freedom, and joy in his hands. Now we have a future and nothing can ever separate us from God’s love in Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:37-39).