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by Steve Risner

In the movie The Secret Life of Pets, we see that when no humans are watching, our pets act completely differently. They do things we didn’t think they could or would. But they only do them because they know we won’t find out. How does this apply to the Christian life?

I’m sure you can see where this is going. The secret lives of Christians should not be secret. As a believer, I firmly believe that the way I am in public should be no different than the way I am in private. When I’m with people, the things I think, say, and do should be consistent with those things when I’m by myself. Now, I’m not suggesting we should not have some discretion when it comes to airing issues publicly and things like that. But I am saying that if we say we believe a certain thing is wrong or bad, we probably should not be doing that thing whether in private or in public.

What am I getting at? Sin is not a normal expression of the Christian life. I don’t believe we can live a sin-free life; the Bible is pretty clear on that as well. But I do believe that if we consistently return to the same sins or act like something is sin in public and then privately practice it, we are lying to everyone including ourselves. This does terrible things to our relationship with the Lord and to others, and it can be devastating to our self-image. The results of living a contradictory life can cause any number of psychological issues ranging from projection (acting like others are doing what you’re doing) to self-hatred, bitterness, and insecurity issues. I know this from experience. I think it’s safe to say we’ve all done this at some point in our lives. Realizing it and putting stop to it are what’s important. I suggest praying about it and, in many situations, find a person you trust to be accountable to.

Living a double life can be a self-destructive scenario. There are usually two ways things go for someone living a secret life of sin: they’ll either come to some sort of crisis and break, allowing the Father of peace to radically change their lives, or they’ll fall away because they know in their hearts the faith they claim they have publicly is a farce. Living a lie, especially when it costs you something, rarely survives very long. As Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters.” Eventually, you’ll despise one while clinging to the other. Along this second path, too often we’ll find that others are torn down in the process. Our sin can have devastating impacts on the lives of others as well, which is another reason to avoid the secret life of sin.

The Bible has a fair bit of warning for the believer who is harboring secret sins. In the book of Proverbs, written primarily by Solomon but compiled by priests under king Hezekiah, it says, “He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.” Many believe they are hiding their sins, possibly even from God. What a foolish thought! The Lord exists in all places at all times, and He sees everything. Often times, we may believe we’re “getting away with it” when, in reality, we’re strangling our relationship with Jesus and hurting ourselves and possibly others. We may hide sins from other people, but the Lord will always know.

In Ezekiel 8:12, the Lord is speaking to the prophet saying, “He said to me, ‘Son of man, have you seen what the elders of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? They say, ‘The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land.’’” It’s so easy to think that since we don’t see the Lord right in front of us that He’s ignorant of our deeds—the things we think, say, or do. But we know He's with us always; He sees all things and knows our hearts. In Jeremiah 17:10, He tells us, “I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.”

The Old Testament is filled with instances where God’s chosen people, the Israelites or Jews, turned from the Lord, doing evil in His sight. But often times, these things started in secret. A little sin here and there in the dark and who would know? But eventually, sin grows and engulfs us. The people of Israel repeatedly turned to open idol worship, serving false gods that did nothing for them except cause the Lord to reject them. Isaiah says, “Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the LORD, who do their work in darkness and think, ‘Who sees us? Who will know?’” Living a “secret life of sin” really is living in sin. It’s not a secret to the Lord at all.

Are you struggling? Are you not sure why it seems like everything has fallen apart or the Lord isn’t with you? Look into yourself and judge. Are you harboring sin? Are you living what you think is a secret life of self-indulgence or sin? It’s very unlikely the Lord will bless a person who is willfully living in rebellion against Him. This is brought out in Scripture many times, especially in the Old Testament. The Jews were turned over to their enemies many times because they had forsaken the Lord their God.

In Deuteronomy 28, we see God takes obedience and disobedience very seriously. This isn’t to say you will lose your salvation if you disobey. We all fall short at some point, some more than others. But this chapter in Deuteronomy gives a list of blessings to God’s people for obeying Him. It’s 14 verses of, “If you follow Me with all your heart, I will….” But if you read the remaining verses of that chapter, you’ll see God spends a great deal of time expressing what He’ll bring on His people if they do not follow Him wholeheartedly. This list of “curses” isn’t 14 verses long; it’s 53 verses long! God takes our disobedience very seriously, whether that sin is public or private. You can read about an instance where God punished not just the man who sinned but all of Israel for his private sin in Joshua 7. Earlier, in chapter 6, Joshua tells the Israelite army to take Jericho but they cannot take anything from the city as it was devoted to destruction. This meant not a single article could be taken from the city—it was all God’s. But Achan stole from the Lord. He took a few a nice robes and some gold and silver that would amount to about $24,000 in today’s world. Now, I suppose $24,000 sounds like a lot of money. But the man disobeyed the Lord and 36 of Achan’s fellow countrymen were killed by the enemy soldiers of Ai. This demonstrates how a life of sin can not only harm us, but it can easily impact those around us.

Living a life of secret sin can destroy you. Secretly viewing pornography online, spending your money on drugs or gambling, gossiping, telling “little white lies”—all of these and so many more can deteriorate your relationship with the Lord and also harm those you love and care about and who care about you. Secret sins can be the hardest to deal with because we first need to come clean. That means sitting down with a trusted person and confessing our sins to them. It also often means we need them (or someone else) to keep us accountable. Dealing with sin is frequently a team effort. I highly recommend getting help. Yes, we need the Lord and He is the true deliverer. But sometimes, as the Word tells us, we need others to help us along our journey to living a life worthy of the calling.

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