You spread out our sins before you – our secret sins – and you see them all. We live our lives beneath your wrath, ending our years with a groan.
Psalm 90:8-9 NLT
Scientific research has revealed that keeping secrets can seriously affect our health, increasing anxiety and depression .
Reports that looked at more than 13,000 secrets discovered that it is less hiding the secret than living with it that causes the greatest damage. Evidence reveals that our thoughts wander to our secrets more frequently than we want and this gives us a lower quality of well-being than being open. Studies show that we think about the secret we’re keeping three times as often as we think about how we might keep it a secret.
Scripture tells to keep short accounts with God (1 John 1:9). This has to do with keeping our conscience clear. Then we can focus on God’s call in our life, rather than managing our secrets and strategies to avoid detection, which is very wearing. So, when we are aware of a wrong, we are to seek to put it right immediately. This is to be done in the best way possible that looks to the interests of the other as well as our own need to clear our conscience. Even if we sense problems, we can make our way and ask if there is anything another person needs to say to us to clear the air (Matthew 5:23-24).
When I make visible my secrets, I not only demonstrate a commitment to my own welfare but express respect for another person’s dignity. I, of course, lose sole power to determine the outcome, yet retain a voice, one that is silenced if that secret is discovered without my consent.
God knows everything about us, there are no secrets hidden from him, so it is best to bite the bullet and speak truth carefully and kindly, ensuring a clear conscience and a healthier life.
QUESTION
What secrets do you carry with you? The keeping is more stressful than you realise. So, what will it take to share that secret? What steps can you take to separate yourself from your secrets and live at peace with God, yourself and others?
PRAYER
May I not end my years with a groan because of unconfessed sins.
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