Thankful That God Doesn't Share Secrets

I knew a man once who on more than one occasion would expose the sins of others. I have no idea what his motive was but he had the opportunity to hurt many people, especially younger lives. He was in a position of authority over teenagers, whose sins are often more exposed than those of us who have spent a life time learning to hide our weaknesses and transgressions. I have often thought about this and wondered why someone would want to do that. I'll never figure it out and would not be satisfied if I heard the explanation from his own mouth. The funny thing was, he was highly respected by many in the Christian community in our area as if he were some noble example of what Jesus wants us to be. I just never could respect him and still don't.

But, I think I did learn something important from knowing him and seeing him in action and that is, I'm glad God doesn't share secrets. God sees our hearts and they are often dark and complex and filled with things that we wish would go away. It's often explained as a sin nature. It's our natural nature to sin and although we get tired of it and wish we wouldn't, we often find ourselves apologizing to God. And if we're all plagued with the same ailment why are we not more compassionate toward others in their weaknesses? It would seem that the more prudent method of handling transgression is to pull the person aside in private and encourage them to straighten out. At least that's the way I handle things.

God loves us, and I mean really loves us. He will not tolerate sin, and has provided a complete solution to sin. He will not intentionally embarrass us unless it's absolutely necessary, and sometimes it is. If there is a secret sin that we refuse to deal with God may very well expose it to others so that they can help us get over it. But, I'm convinced that's the exception rather than the rule. God most often just speaks to our hearts in private and reminds us that He loves us and wants us to stop whatever it is we're doing. He doesn't want to stand before the whole family of believers and announce, "hey everybody look at what he's done! Can you believe it? I would think he'd know better don't you?" That's just not the way God works.

Don't ask me why I decided to share this right now. I just often think about the whole thing and am often trying to sort it out, so I thought I'd just put it down on cyberspace. You may know who I'm talking about but I would be the last one to expose someone on purpose. I just needed to get it out of my system.

Please keep this confidential,,,,