Your Secret Isn’t Safe

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of Sherlock Holmes was a notorious practical joker.  He once sent out fake invitations to the mayor’s ball resulting in numerous unwanted guests.  Many suspect that he may have been responsible for Piltdown man, a hoax that claimed to be the so called “missing link” in evolution.  One of his most talked about pranks is when he once sent an anonymous telegram to twelve friends, all men of great prestige and importance, saying, “All has been discovered, flee at once”.  Within 48 hours, all of them had left town.

It goes to show us that everyone, either great or small, has something they don’t people to find out. Dirt swept under the rug while we pretend everything is clean. Things we try to hide from our friend, our family, and even ourselves. We foolishly think that if we bury them deep enough, they will never come to light or if we ignore them long enough, they will go away.  But Jesus tells us in Luke 12:2  "But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known”.

The solution to those hidden things isn’t trying to find better hiding place, it is facing them and overcoming them. In 1^st John 1:8-9 we read, “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Hidden secret sins are like bombs that are waiting to go off. Satan will wait until the moment it will do the most damage, to unleash their destruction. Why not diffuse the bomb by confessing the sin before it can be used to harm us and the ones we love?  Forgiveness by God can only be found when we are honest enough with ourselves to seek it.