Today’s note is from a young woman in our church named Shayna who seems to have an extra portion of joy all the time. She highlights one of my tougher messages about the little hidden sins and questionable things that can slowly erode our spiritual life. I really appreciate Shayna’s courage to share this.
The 100 day pursuit has been incredibly nourishing to me. I knew when Scott announced it that it was going to be holy. I’m so glad he invited us into it.
So many of them have been the words I needed to hear at the right time. It’s obvious that the Holy Spirit is all over these devotions. It’s also fun to hear Scott’s hilarious inner thoughts on the pages. I’ve laughed out loud at many of them. It’s a great way to start the day.
One that particularly ministered to me was Day 51 Little Foxes. There was an area of compromise in my life that I just had allowed to become acceptable. I’ve prayed for years about it and asked God “what do You want me to do with this!?” The writing that day said “If there’s anything in your life that is questionable—get it out. Literally, throw it out if possible. Flush it down the toilet, tear it up, break it, throw it in the trash. Crucify it.”
The words were a violent call to action. The writings posed the question “Shayna are you willing to allow anything to ruin the blooming love between the Lord and you?” So I took it to the Lord and made some aggressive changes. The pursuit has strengthened my connection to the Father and has brought structure to such an unpredictable season.
Shayna
It seems good to go a little deeper with this idea of getting rid of anything and everything that could come between us and our Lord. Shayna mentioned an area of compromise that she was tolerating. I’m guessing it was something that nobody really knows about, and even if they did know, they wouldn’t care. Knowing Shayna she’s being ultra sensitive. And that’s a good thing!
Bad company
We are very social creatures, and all of us are affected by social pressure. Even if we pride ourselves on being independent thinkers, we are still quite shaped by the people around us. Scripture says, “bad company corrupts good character.” We live in a day when the word “Christian” has lost its meaning. It has become, for many, a sentimental belief without a sharp turning from sin.
What I’m saying is that you can find Christians who do just about anything: steal, get drunk, do drugs, lie, deceive, cheat on taxes, use pornography, engage in sex before marriage, abuse children, hate, and many other things. Whether people who do these types of things are genuinely Christian, only God knows. My point isn’t to pick on them but just to bring out the fact that this creates a very strange environment for us. The general attitude—not just outside the church but inside—is that sin isn’t that sinful. It is tolerated. I’m not talking about people who are clearly not serving God but claim to be Christian. I’m talking about pastors and elders, youth leaders and worship leaders, those who are deeply involved in church life. They do sinful things but somehow don’t think it matters.
This attitude of tolerance toward sin in the culture and the Church affects us more than we realize. It kind of wears us down. It makes us feel like we are being too extreme or being too strict or prudish. Maybe we should loosen up? We know what the Bible says about living holy, but few people seem serious about it. So we think maybe it’s not that important.
It’s so important to follow the Word of God and not the crowd of Christians. I’m not saying there are no Christians worthy of imitating. Of course, there are many. But our primary rule for living should be the Bible. Just because others do something, it doesn’t make it right.
Distinguishing
There are many things that the Bible does not explicitly address. For example, smoking, gambling and watching polluted movies. We can find some indirect guidance for these kinds of things, but with many things we are left to our conscience. Like Shayna, we have to bring it to the Lord and ask Him what He wants.
But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Hebrews 5:14
Who’s going to know?
The truth is that we can compromise in so many areas of our life and people around us at church probably won’t notice. Most people only go to church 1-2 times a week, right? Let’s call it three hours a week. That leaves 165 hours a week that we are not in church. It’s easy to act Christian in the church. We all know how to behave when we need to. We all know how to pretend. Even if we live with Christians, we still spend a lot of time alone. And, plus, nobody can read our thoughts. We all have ample opportunity to compromise in any number of ways in our hidden life.
Am I telling the truth? I mean, who’s going to know that you indulged in drugs or alcohol one night when home alone? Who is going to find out that you were on a website with questionable content? Who’s going to know that you are fantasizing and lusting in your mind? Who’s going to see you secretly hate or envy someone?
No one. Probably. Although the Bible does say, “Be sure your sin will find you out.”
Who are you?
I’m in my office, and on the wall is the poster for my daughter’s senior art show. The show posed this question: “Who are you when you’re by yourself?” It’s a probing question. Because, again, it’s very easy to hide our secret sins and pretend to be way more holy and pure than we actually are. If our chief concern is appearing like a good Christian to others, then we are in a dangerous place.
Good motivation
So what is the reason we should be pure in heart in both our public life and our hidden life? Good question! Often—and I have done this many times—we are taught the big motivation to not sin in secret is because it will rob us of spiritual blessing. And it’s true. Sin does cloud us and take our joy. It could even put us in a place where we are being disciplined by the Lord. But I’ve noticed that God’s children do some pretty questionable and sinful things, but the Lord still blesses them. Sin doesn’t immediately cause God to pull away His presence and His gifts. We have to be careful though because it is easy to think the blessings of God must mean that He’s okay with how we are living. That’s a huge mistake.
Now, one of the reasons we should avoid sin, even if no one will find out, is because it will eventually become ingrained. In other words, you’ll become desensitized to it, and it’ll become such a part of who you are that you’ll become a slave to it. We are not called to slavery but to freedom.
Sin has a way of spreading, as well. It’s like a weed. Before we know it the whole garden of our heart is covered with weeds.
Supreme motivation
But still, all these motivations I’ve mentioned have one thing in common: our concern for our own welfare. It’s not wrong to care for ourselves. The Bible, in fact, instructs us to love ourselves and to look after our own interests. But the ultimate motivation to do the right thing in public or in the hidden place is love for God. That was what moved Shayna. She didn’t want anything to get in between her and her Lord.
It doesn’t matter if we can get away with something or if other Christians seem to be doing it. What matters supremely is how our actions affect the Lord. God is quite clear in Scripture that sin grieves Him. Paul tells the church in Ephesus, for example—
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Ephesians 4:30
Grieve means to cause to suffer, to cause distress. Take that in. Sometimes we act like we can do whatever we want because there are like 7 billion people in the world, plus angels and other created beings. Surely God isn’t going to be affected by my little secret sin. But He is. Maybe we can’t comprehend that but the Lord demonstrates His grief over sin throughout the Word. When David sinned, God noticed and the Bible says, “The thing David did greatly displeased the Lord.” Everything we do and think is in full view of the Lord.
And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.Hebrews 4:13
On one level this idea is terrifying. Since God is a holy and consuming fire it makes me tremble to think He sees every word, every thought—even every motive. Lord, have mercy! But it also motivates me to be a person who loves God and hates sin in the hidden place. I want to be a person who is pure and holy when I’m by myself. I don’t want to be thinking about things that are sinful when I know the Father hears every thought. The thought of grieving the Lord—who gave His life for me!—is painful to bear. He deserves my devotion in public and in private.
Think of Him
When sin knocks on your door or pops up inside of you, don’t just think of yourself. Remember that your actions in that moment can cause God to suffer or can bring joy to Him. Has not the Lord given us life and breath? Has He not provided for us every day of our lives? Has He not been good? Has He not poured out His blood for us? Has He not died in our stead so we could have everlasting life? We just can’t inflict pain on His holy heart.
Nothing I’m saying here will do any good unless we are self-aware. Examine your life carefully. Notice when your thoughts are sinful. Search your motives. Don’t be friendly with anything questionable. If you think it might grieve God, then better to stay away. “Oh, but so many other Christians do it.” Don’t focus on that. Look at your own heart. Flee from sin. If you see pride in yourself—get low! If you see bitterness taking root—cry to God to uproot it! If you see lust brooding in your heart—run! If you see yourself inching toward a bad decision—shake yourself! Say, “No no no no no no no no no!” It’s good to be gentle and sweet. But, in regards to sin—be aggressive! Fight against it as though it were an evil creature that wants to take control of your life.