Secrets . . . Who Are We kidding?

We all have our own secrets. The skeletons in our closet that we don’t want anyone to see. We would prefer for people to see the person that WE WANT them to see. We don’t want them to see who we really are.

Rather interesting, really, because if you read through the Bible some really awesome people had some really big secrets. They sinned. They hurt their loved ones. They broke their covenant with God.

Then we look at athletes, politicians, pastors, and we put them on pedestals that they could never survive on (mind you, that WE could never survive on). We spend time focused on judging others and perhaps it is our own judgments of others that prevents us from owning our own junk and being the person we are (good and bad). We limit our potential for growth by failing to admit what we actually need to grow in.

1 John 1:8: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

Perhaps we should focus more of our energy turned inward and deal with our own faults and secrets that we want to hide from the world.

Matt 10:26-28 “ So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

I like this Bible verse because it reminds me that I should fear less about what others think of me and more about what God thinks of me. And…he has a key to my closet!! Wow, he has me on instant stream and he knows EVERYTHING I have ever done. Everything.

But, what is also true is that despite those secrets, skeletons, things we NEVER want posted on the front page of the newspaper…He loves us anyway. The Judge of all judges offers grace and he forgives and he allows us to become new creatures. He cleans out those skeletons and buries them and makes a nice walk-in closet (probably with fancy shelves for shoes, purses, and hats) for us to enjoy the blessings that he has in store for us.

God takes our secrets, revealed and confessed to him, and He forgives them and allows us to have new lives. He is our comforter and protector. He dries our tears and comforts our hearts when loneliness is unbearable. He truly creates “Beauty from Ashes”

Isaiah 61:3 “To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for his own glory.”

P.S. Special thanks to friends who remind us that it is okay to not be “perfect”. That it is okay to lay our sins at the cross and LEAVE it there. To let God bury those skeletons and not dig them back up. That mistakes in life are to be learned from. That we may be a product of our past but it does not define who we are.

P.S.S. For the past 7 months I have looked for the perfect picture to hang over my bed. Last weekend I finally found it…and how appropriate it was today when I felt sad and frustrated….a reminder of what God does for us!!