No Need To Hide

As a little kid, I had a routine. Whenever my mother would get up in the morning and take a shower, I would sneak up onto the counter, open the top cupboard, pull out our sugar jar, and dip my finger in and eat glucose to my little heart’s content. After weeks of this, the guilt started to wear on me, but I was too scared to admit what I was doing, so I kept it hidden until one day my mom caught me, finger two knuckles deep in sugar.

For a lot of us, sin catches us. It traps us. So our typical response is to hide, and blame shift. We put the sugar jar back in the cupboard and quietly sneak off the counter before we’re caught. In doing so, we end up living lives that are chained to the guilt and power of that sin.

James 1:14-15 says, But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

We are “lured” in by our own desire. When that desire is fully conceived we birth sin itself. Then we become trapped because we are too proud to admit we are wrong, sinful people. The lack of transparency when we sin is an arrogance. We want to be seen as “ok” or “righteous.”

That pride causes us to hide and blame-shift. This is a pattern that first started when Adam and Eve sinned and they hid from God. When they got caught they blame-shifted and made excuses for their sin. Things haven’t changed much with us. We sin. We hide. We blame-shift.

When we hide our sin, we lose out on the beauty of mercy

We often fear man’s judgement and that keeps us from confession. But I love what Proverbs 28:13 says, Whoever conceals his sins will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.

What an amazing truth! This happens as God saves us when we turn away from our sin and turn towards Him.

Since we have nothing to hide, we can be open and honest with God and with our community around us. Our sin doesn’t define us since our identity is in Christ.

This may be easier said than done, but the spiritual truth of our position in Christ is greater than the conditional trust of this present world that we struggle in. The liberating power of the Gospel tells the story of us, sinners as we are, with our lives hidden forever with Christ, all the blame shifted on the One who died to save us. We don’t need to hide anymore.