God's ways are not our ways. Never have been, never will. And often I realize that my natural inclination is directly opposed to God's wisdom. I sorrow over the death of a godly christian and rejoice at the death of a despot. Whereas God "has no pleasure in the death of the wicked" but the death of a saint is "precious in His sight". It seems to me that to "lose my life" would not save it, and that the servant of all is surely not the greatest of all. No, God's ways are not my ways. There is one particular thing I noticed today that is opposite my natural tendency and I wonder if you are the same way. Secrets. What secrets do you keep and which ones don't you keep? Here is God's take on secrets we should keep:...when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly...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. Matthew 6:3-4
And His take on secrets we shouldn't keep:
He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy...Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. Proverbs 28:13; James 5:16
Like I said, Backward. Am I the only one, or is it natural to think we are best served to keep our sins secret? God says otherwise. And don't we really want our righteousness, our good deeds, our devotion to God to slip out, not in a big braggy way, but...you know...just so people will know...???
Maybe this week you could join with me in determining to keep the right secrets and not the wrong ones. Find a fellow christian who you can openly confess a secret sin to. Then, do a good deed for someone in complete secret, then secretly go to the Lord in prayer and thank Him for your forgiveness and your reward which will be great!
Posts
Being Godly is counter-culture, but it is also counter-intuitive. That means faith (following God's instructions anyway) can be uncomfortable at times. Comfort is not the issue. "Trust and obey" is the issue.
ReplyDeleteHey look, we blogged about the same thing! Maybe... or nor.
ReplyDelete(this is jade) I really liked the part where it said that one scripture about not letting your left hand know what your right hand is doing. It reminds me of the phrases and how they would blow a horn whenever they would be making a donation or something.
ReplyDelete(this is jillian) I liked the whole thing but especially confessing your sins
ReplyDelete(this is Luke) I liked the part where it said that God celebrates when a saint dies to come join Him in the kingdom of heaven.
ReplyDelete(this is Abby) Its really common to talk about the good things that we do, and hide the bad things we do because we want people to like us better, or we think that they won’t understand, or saying it is so hard that we just don’t do it. But God tells us otherwise. We should confess our sins to someone to get help and prayer and healing.
ReplyDelete[Jacob] This is a good reminder of how we should confess our sins to someone else to show we really mean it, and to helps others for God’s glory and not ours be keeping it a secret.
ReplyDelete(this is Hadassah) i like the part where it said that when a saint dies its precious. its seems precious because the saint joins God in heaven.
ReplyDelete(Emma)This blog taught me to wisely keep and share my secrets.
ReplyDelete(sophia) i liked the contrast between us and God, and how it can be seen in our habits.
ReplyDeleteWhen it says that we should profess our sins, I think we should not only so we can be free from what we've done in our hearts, but also so that we are free from shame and don't beat our selves up over something that God has already forgiven us for. (Mia Evans)
ReplyDelete(JJ) This was a great reminder to not boast or brag about all the good deeds we have done because in reality we have probably done even more sinful actions.
ReplyDelete(Caydence) I like the idea of not boasting as i have seen it myself.
ReplyDelete(Violet Goldsberry) I like the idea that we should only tell God about our good deeds and to not brag about it to anyone. I also like how it is backwards of what we want to do.
ReplyDelete(mckenna) i liked how it said that we should pray and do good things for others in private but to confess our sins as well as pray for others in public
ReplyDelete