what's your secret?

I wanted to post something fun, but I can't come up with anything. This other topic has been mulling around in my head for days. So here goes...

Lately, it seems I am hearing of people's hidden sins being found out, just one after another. Of course this is nothing new. Adam tried to hide his sin. So did Cain. And David. And on down through history. It seems to be the most interesting to our society when it involves preachers or politicians, but it happens everyday to ordinary people.

They are caught. Found out. Someone is shocked and hurt when they learn that the person they thought they really knew has been living a lie all along.

I lived in Colorado Springs during the Ted Haggard deal. And I guess there is a large church here in Denver that had a similar situation with their pastor. We find ourselves disturbed and perhaps even judgmental.

But the thing is this: we all have secret sin. The things I hide may not be headline material, but it is still sin. God hates it just as much as He does the startling, degenerate things we hear about.

And the other thing is that every one of those big, shocking sins started out small. Jim Baker had to steal one dollar before he stole millions. Ted Haggard had to let his eyes linger a bit too long somewhere they shouldn't, or intentionally click a website, years before he wound up where he did.

And so, we may rationalize that the things we hide are not too bad. They're just little sins. But little sins grow. The Bible compares sin to yeast. You can't put yeast in your dough and then confine it to only one section of your loaf. Like yeast, sin will spread to every area of your life, no matter how deeply you may think it's hidden. It will spread and grow. It will not be satisfied to stay small. It thrives in the darkness.

The antidote? Confession. Not only confession to God, but confession to another believer. I have shared in Bible studies and even here that fear is a sin in my life. I am not going to let it stay in the dark, fermenting and growing and taking over. There are other things that I am not going to post on my blog, but I will share with my husband or a trusted friend. There is power in confessing. The Bible tells us to do it. When the light shines in, the sin loses some of it's power.

And it is much easier to confess looking at porn than to confess hiring homosexual prostitutes. Much easier to confess shoplifting than to confess robbing a bank. Get it out of your lips, out of your heart while it is still small.

But if it's too late, if you are already bound up in sin so ugly you feel you could never voice it, you still must. You must! Go to a pastor, a priest, a counselor, any godly person you can trust and tell them. The world won't end. I promise. In fact, after the ripples settle, you will find life better than you knew before.

The Bible says that sins committed in secret will be shouted from the rooftops. It also says to be sure you will be found out. The choice is yours. Confess, turn from it, or let God shout it to the world.

Let's turn on the lights.