The sins of some people are blatant and march them right into court. The sins of others don't show up until much later. The same with good deeds. Some you see right off, but none are hidden forever.
Many of our sins are against God and against local law. These sins are obvious to everyone around us and will get us into legal trouble as well as grieving the heart of God. These sins might make the headlines in our local news, causing our neighbors to shun us.
Our actions bring public shame on us and our families. They taint our reputation and could have long-lasting repercussions.
Our credit could be affected, thereby impeding our ability to buy property. Privileges like voting or driving could be revoked. These obvious sins that are out there for the world to see and judge us by cause lots of problems; for us and those who love us.But, there are other grievous sins which aren't obvious to the world. Evil lurks in some hearts and is concealed from the world. Given all the happenings we view on the evening news lately, we understand and recognize blatant transgressions, but there is also another element, the hidden sins.
Those sins we commit in our heart: lust, covetousness, gluttony and so on, the world does not see, but God does. These indiscretions can become habit and quickly a part of our daily routine. If not checked, they can change our character, turn us into someone we don't recognize; it can happen quickly.
Principle 7 in Celebrate Recovery, the Christian 12-Step program says for us to, "Reserve a daily time with God for self-examination, Bible reading and prayer, in order to know God and His will for my life and to gain the power to follow His will."
Each day or night let's take time to examine ourselves, our hearts and our motives and spend time in our Bibles reading and praying. See if things don't change, see if we don't feel God's presence in every waking moment; enabling us to recognize a hidden sin and step away from it.
1 Timothy 5
Check out Celebrate Recovery here.
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