"The Secret" and Human Secrets

Hi all:

This is my last blog addressing "The Secret" phenomenon according to the Bible. Today I'll look at the dangers of human secrets and why we should avoid teachings from people who claim to have a "secret" answer.

First of all, listen to what the apostle Paul writes in the fifth chapter of his letter to the Ephesians about the things humans do in secret:

12 For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.

People who do shameful things that their conscience dictates they must keep secret need to know that nothing we humans do is secret from God. Listen to what the prophet Jeremiah wrote in chapter 23 of his book:

24 Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?" says the Lord; "Do I not fill heaven and earth?" says the Lord.

Jesus, the same Lord whom Jeremiah quotes, expanded Jeremiah's prophetic word to declare that God not only sees, He will expose. Consider these gospel passages:

Mark 4: 22 For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light.

Luke 8:17 For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.


On the other hand, the blessing of God's "filling heaven and earth" is that He sees and rewards the good that we do in His name - whether or not anyone else sees it. Listen to this portion of Jesus's words in the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 6:

3 But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly. F28
5 "And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.


I'll leave the subject of "The Secret" with the words of the writer of Ecclesiastes, one of the greatest wisdom books of all time. In Chapter 12, the writer sums up:

13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man's all. 14 For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil.

hrh