Secret Sins

 “You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.” 

Psalm 90:8 (NIV)

     As I listened to a dear friend confess something from her past during Bible study, I quietly kept my eyes focused on my feet but my heart was pounding. I tried and failed to ignore the truth: I knew how she felt. I had something hidden, too. We were challenged by our Bible study leader the week before to ask the Lord to show us hidden sin in our lives that we needed to offer up to Him for forgiveness.

   Sandy shared that while she was at work, she had accidentally bumped into a box on the floor and heard glass breaking. She peeked inside and saw an expensive chandelier with one of its globes in pieces. She was devastated because she knew how expensive it must have been and she did not have the money to replace it.

   In a moment of panic, she walked away without saying a word. It had been almost two months since the incident and she had tried to forget it. She had failed. I want you all to pray for me,” she told us. “I have to make this right. I really feel the Lord telling me that, no matter the outcome, I have sinned by not confessing to Him and to my boss what had happened.”

    Sandy had no idea that I, too, had accepted our study leader’s challenge and now wrestled with a secret sin that had happened – not months ago – but years ago. I was a high school freshman and in a speech class. A good friend of mine was debating a topic with one of the boys in the class. I honestly do not remember the topic but I do remember that more than anything I wanted her to win.

   They each gave excellent arguments and rebuttals and after they finished, the class voted on the winner. Our teacher asked me to count the votes. I began to count and I could see that it was going to be close. As I opened the last 4 ballets, I realized that my friend had lost and the boy had won. And that’s what I should have told the teacher - but I didn’t.

   In a split second, I made the decision to lie. “Megan won,” I told her. She looked straight into my eyes and asked “Are you sure?” and I repeated the lie. “Yes, I’m sure,” I told her as I gathered up the ballots and threw them in the trash.

   And I hid that lie – I thought – from everyone. I even rationalized my decision. Megan had worked a lot harder on her speech than he had. She was better prepared. Even if she didn’t win, she should have. For years I thought I had kept that lie hidden. That is until the Lord gently but firmly reminded me through Sandy and her transparent heart.

    Psalm 90:8 addresses what Moses referred to as “secret sins.” We try to hide them away as if we can keep God from finding out. Wrong. There are no secret sins with God. He knows and sees everything. Scripture says that while we may think our secret sins are “hidden” in darkness, the light of God’s presence shows them crystal clear. How about you? Do you have a secret sin stored away, hoping that no one will ever find out?

   Please please know that no matter what the sin is, there is healing and peace when you take it before the Lord. His extreme love for you and His mercy, grace, and forgiveness cover ALL sin. Did you get that? All. There’s nothing that you have done that He cannot or will not forgive.

   Two weeks after Sandy’s confession in our group, she shared that she had gone to her boss, told her what had happened, and offered to pay for the broken globe. Sandy also asked for forgiveness. The relief that she felt was indescribable, she said, as her boss thanked her for telling the truth and forgave her.

   Her testimony gave me the courage to confess my secret sin and ask for forgiveness, too. It was embarrassing and humiliating but I was met with love and forgiveness. And mercy. And the Lord? His forgiveness was instant and His grace unbelievable. I made a decision, too: no more secret sin for me.

    Father, as much as it may hurt, please show me my secret sins so I can be cleansed and receive mercy and forgiveness from you. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

R.A.P. it up . . . 

Reflect

• Can you think of a situation when you sinned but tried to keep it secret so no one would know? 

• Did you consider that God knew what you did?

Apply

• Meditate on Psalm 90:8 and ask the Lord to show you any sin that you have hidden in your heart.

• Journal what He has shown you in His Word. Spend time in prayer and then make every effort to confess to the person involved, ask for forgiveness, and lay it all down at the feet of Jesus.

Power 

• Psalm 90:8 (NIV) “You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.”

• Proverbs 28:13 (NIV) “He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.”

• Psalm 119:11 (NIV) “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”

It's Time to Travel Light

 “Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.”

Psalm 68:19 (NIV)

  

      Packing for a trip has never been one of my strengths. My husband always warned me to “travel light” and I tried. Really. I just never got the hang of it. There are too many necessities.

   Take, for example, hair dryers. Packing two on a trip isn’t unreasonable to me. Yes, they are big and bulky but what if the hotel doesn’t have one, and what if my main dryer doesn’t work and I don’t have a backup? My hair wakes up in a whole new world every day. I NEED a dryer to give it some semblance of direction.

   Then there is the makeup. I don’t want people to see me walking toward them and scream, for Pete’s sake! I realize three cosmetic bags of makeup might seem to be a lot and I haven’t worn some of the eye shadow in four years, but you never know – right? Makeup equals necessity.

   Of course, I also need several outfits. What if it’s hot? Or cold? Or cool? Or rainy? Or windy?  Or what if I gain a couple of pounds while we are traveling and can’t get into some of my clothes

   So I shove and push and pack all my “can’t make it without them” items in my bags and sit on each one as I pull the zippers shut before the contents pop out. Then I drag them to the car and watch as my husband tries to find room for my four suitcases beside his one carry-on bag.

   I remember arriving at the airport for one particular trip and seeing the obvious problem:  my husband and his one suitcase could easily move through the baggage check-in but my four bags of “necessities” took considerably longer. And even with help, I tripped twice and nearly fell because my baggage was heavy; it was also more expensive to check in . . . and . . . dare I say it . . . not necessary.

   So it is with the unnecessary baggage that we carry around with us every day. Our suitcases are busting at the seams with anger, resentment, worries, and anxieties. We haul grief and heartache in our backpacks and pride in our briefcases. Each one gets heavier and heavier and heavier as our strength fades and we struggle just to move forward.

   The solution? That’s where Psalms 68:19 comes in. Jesus is longing to take our burdens – our stuffed baggage – and carry it for us . . .  not just once but every single day! He knows we are tired and weary and He wants nothing more than to lean down and say “Excuse me. May I carry that for you? Let me take the heavy burdens that are weighing you down and replace them with peace and rest.”

   Amazing! Jesus will carry our heavy burdens for us. He will give us rest. He will ease our load. Please trust Him and obey His encouragement to travel light.

   Father, thank you for calling me to come and leave all my burdens with you. Thank you for replacing the contents of my baggage with your peace and rest. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

R.A.P. it up . . .

Reflect

• What burdens are you carrying in your suitcase today?

• Are they getting easier to carry? Why or why not?

Apply

• Write down every burden you have been carrying, no matter how many years, on pieces of paper.

• One at a time, give each burden to the Lord to carry for you and praise Him for this gift of love to you.

Power

• Psalm 68:19 (NIV) “Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.”

• Matthew 11:28 (NIV) “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

• Psalm 55:22 (NIV) “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.”

When Life Weighs You Down

 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” 

Matthew 11:28, 30 (NIV)

    As I was finishing my workout routine a few days ago at the local gym, a young woman came in and began checking out all the available equipment. She stopped in the main area used for squats and looked at the different sizes of weights as if unsure which ones to use. Since I had not seen her there before, I asked if she needed help.  She said “No thanks. I think I will start with 45 pounds on each side.” I guess my face looked like “What?!” when she said, “That’s only 90 pounds total; that’s not very much. What do you do?”

   I told her that I put 10-15 pounds on each side because you also consider the weight of the bar. I might add that squats are one of my least favorite exercises. You place equal amounts of weight on each side of the bar, place it on your shoulders, and grip tightly with both hands as you squat down into an almost sitting position and then stand back up. 

   The young woman told me it wasn’t much weight for her shoulders and she could do it so I went back to my workout routine. Only seconds later I heard a loud slam and looked over to see her on the floor on her knees with the weight lifting bar and weights laying across her shoulders. “Guess that weight was too much,” she said as she told me that thankfully she was not injured.

   Jesus is speaking in Matthew 11, verses 28 and 30, about a burden – a weight – but it’s not the weight you find in a gym. Instead, He is speaking to the people struggling with the burden placed on them by the Scribes and Pharisees to adhere to strict laws. He contrasts the burdensome Law of Moses with His offer of rest for the weary. What a beautiful thought. Rest. For. The. Weary.

   Just as that young woman thought she could lift a huge amount of weight on her shoulders and not fall or fail, we weigh down our lives with fears and worries about children, spouses, and jobs, and we toss in stressors about everything from the weather to a sports team score to politics. Then we add every sin that we have ever committed or thought about committing. Everything God has forgiven but we can’t forgive. 

     One burden may seem light but there is never one. There is always additional weight – burdens – added on until, just like the young woman in the gym, we too drop to our knees, unable to carry one more thing. And that’s just the point: we don’t need to carry them! Jesus gives rest and peace, unlike anything this world can offer. His yoke is easy and simple: lay all those burdens at His feet. And leave them there.

   Jesus is asking us to give Him those heavy weights in our lives and accept His gift in return – rest for our weariness. I encourage you to trust His perfect plan for your life as he replaces your burdens with a peace in knowing that He who is faithful loves you more than you can ever imagine and nothing you are facing will ever weigh Him down.

    Father, too many times I think I can carry all the weight of problems in my life when I can’t. I give them to you now and ask that you grant me rest. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

 R.A.P. it up . . . 

Reflect

• Have you ever felt so weighed down by problems in this world that you could almost feel them crushing you?

• When that happened, what was your first reaction?

Apply

• Try this experiment. If you have weights in your home, hold one in each hand for about 10 minutes.

• Now put the weights down and notice how much lighter you feel. Compare that to the difference it makes when you give all your “weights” or burdens to Jesus. Thank Him.

Power 

• Matthew 11:28, 30 (NIV) “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

• I Peter 5:7 (NIV) “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

• Psalm 55:22 (NIV) “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.”

 

 

She Sure Knew How to Laugh

                    “He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.” 

Job 8:21 (NIV)

     I come from a long line of laugh/cryers. You can quickly identify anyone in my family because when we laugh, we cry. It sounds strange, but it’s true.  My sisters and I have mascara running down our faces most of the time when we laugh. 

   And my brother (if he wore mascara) is the same way. Our shoulders shake, too, and we clap our hands together. A mental picture might make one think we resemble seals slapping their flippers together but I assure you, it’s just laughter. While we all experience sadness when laughter is inappropriate, there are moments when laughter makes tough situations seem not so tough. 

    Let me give you some examples: the time a total stranger walked up to me at WalMart and declared - loudly - “I wish I didn’t care how I looked and had the courage to wear my hair like yours!” Or when a woman remarked to me (after my husband passed away) “You wouldn’t feel so bad if you had my husband.” 

   How about the day I got to the checkout at a discount store and found that I had picked up the only package of personal products without a price on it and the clerk had to call over the intercom: “Hey, Daisy, we need a price check on a 24-count package of . . .” And then there was that phone call from the cleaners to let me know that I had forgotten to pick up a pair of pants and when I stopped in to get them, realized they were UNDERpants! (For the record, I have no idea how they got there!)

   The encouragement to me when the “stuff” of everyday situations in life pushes me to fill my mouth with anger, gossip, or hateful words is found in Job 8:21: “He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.”

  When I can learn to react with laughter, my heart will be full of “shouts of joy” instead of whining and complaining or being offended. How about you? Can you relate? Long after the situation is over, you will be remembered for the words that you spoke. Either they will cause heartache, shame, and embarrassment or they will affirm the love of Jesus in your life because you showed mercy and forgiveness.

   People are always sharing how they want to be remembered. Dr. James Dobson said that his mother wanted one sentence printed on her tombstone: “I told you I was sick!” As for me, there’s no doubt that I want to be remembered as a Christian wife and mother but after that, there is only one sentence that counts: “She sure knew how to laugh!”

   Father, please help me to remember how blessed I am and to keep my mouth and heart filled with laughter. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

 

 R.A.P. it up . . . 

Reflect

• Think of a tough situation that you faced recently.

• Did you become angry and offended or did you respond with laughter? 

Apply

• Journal a few situations in which your response should have been laughter but instead you reacted completely opposite.

• Beside each entry, write down how you could have changed the outcome if you had chosen laughter and a smile. Be ready for the next opportunity to choose laughter.

Power 

• Job 8:21 (NIV) “He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.” 

• Psalm 126:2 (NIV) “Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’”

• Ecclesiastes 3:4 (NIV) “. . . a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance . . .”