Ed and I spoke yesterday about the need for both secrecy or privacy and transparency and accountability before others. There is often a thin line between how much others need to know about us and what is none of their business. Ed and I agreed appearances could be deceiving when it comes to others. People may not be what they appear to be. Not one of us is innocent of saying one thing but doing another. How we act in front of company may be a shade more agreeable than when we are with just our everyday family.
Nothing seems to upset folks as much as finding out that another person is a hypocrite. What a hypocrite says publicly is not really what they believe in their personal life. Few have patience with a deceiver, a pretender, or a phony unless it is themselves. Few are willing to be totally honest about their thoughts and motives. The confession booth has been a way for people to be real about themselves without public recognition and embarrassment.
The person confessing before a priest acknowledges God knows the secrets and sins we hide from others. Coming honestly before God in confession is more than what we have done wrong. We know there is forgiveness from God and a fresh start with Him. It’s hard to honestly admit when we have been wrong or did wrong on purpose.“I’m sorry, I was wrong” is hard to say. It’s a continual struggle to do things God’s way instead of our way.
There has always been secrecy ‑‑ not telling all there is to tell. We demand that we have a right to keep who we are and what we do and have done to ourselves. This secrecy leaves God out of our lives. Christians can and do ignore God, but God does not forget us. God wants to hold us fast with His right hand and guide us in our lives. No amount of ignoring, hiding and avoiding God will result in God being indifferent to us.
In Psalm 39, David says of God: “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.” The Bible never hides the truth that great believers and champions of God can and do sin in the most damaging ways concerning themselves and others. Only Jesus was sinless and able to overcome all temptations.
As king, everything was permissible for David, but that did not mean he had a right to sleep with another man’s wife because she was beautiful, and her husband was away fighting as a soldier for him the king. Temptations will always be an irresistible impulse or an impulse to be resisted. David forgot he was not on his own as king with a right to do anything and keep it a secret. Neither should we, for none of our secrets or sins are hidden from God. God does not invade your privacy as He always knows everything about you.
