“Jesus replied, ‘If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask Me, and I would give you living water.” (John 4:10 NT)
In the conversation referenced above between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well it quickly became apparent that (a) the woman didn’t have a clue who Jesus was, and (b) Jesus knew everything about her. Why is that important for us to know? Because for the most part, even as believers, we know very little about Jesus in comparison to all there is to know, and He knows more about us than we know about ourselves.
Implicit in that is the realization that there’s no such thing as a “secret” sin. We may think we’ve covered our proverbial “tracks,” because we’ve fooled our spouse, kids, and friends from church, but nothing is kept from the sight of the Savior. We can put on a happy face, maintain our consistency in worship and even in service at church or in the community, but that “secret” sin is eating us alive spiritually.
That’s what makes sin so vile and destructive. We try to live in ways that please us, but dishonor Jesus, all the while professing faith in Him, but living for the devil. To me there is no more fulfilling life than loving and serving Jesus, but life is so daily. What becomes habitual becomes comfortable, whether reading our Bible or checking out porn.
Lying, cheating, gossiping, lusting, coveting, and on and on it goes. The first time we sin it may be startling, but the 20th time it becomes habit. Then one day we look in the mirror and we don’t like who’s looking back. How did we get here?
In Genesis 3:1 the Bible says that Satan “was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made.” These words of Scripture can be hard to interpret correctly until we realize that the author is using figures of speech. Satan wasn’t a wild animal, he was the wisest, most sensible, crafty, prudent, and subtle angel the Lord ever created, even after he fell.
When he came to Eve and Adam in the garden he didn’t slither up as a snake, he came as a brilliant light, creating a presence that would lead Eve to believe he was an angel. She was naïve, and why wouldn’t she be? She lived in the presence of perfection where everything was truth and light and love. How was she to know this angelic presence wasn’t a messenger from God Himself?
She should have known the same way we must know – Satan contradicted a clear directive of God. Satan asked the woman: “Did God really say…?” Anytime anyone or anything leads us to believe we must question the clear teaching of God’s Word, we need to run in the opposite direction. But we too often do exactly what Eve did, and fall for Satan’s subtleties, to the end we lose ground spiritually, but rather than confess our sin and seek forgiveness, we try to pretend it doesn’t really matter.
It becomes our little secret, but rather than staying hidden it creeps into every avenue of our lives, and before long our energy is expended just trying to keep our “secret” hidden. Listen child of God, here is a word from the Lord: “Come clean!” Confess your sin to God and to whomever else you need to confess. He knows! It has never been a secret to Him, and the longer you try to hide it the worse the outcome when the truth comes out – and it always does!
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 