One can only imagine what Matt Lauer had been thinking as the Harvey Weinstein scandal unfolded and triggered a landslide of allegations, revelations, and secret sin exposed.
He had to know it was only a matter of time before the gig was up. I mean, here’s Katie Couric back in 2012 explaining how Matt’s most annoying habit was that he “pinches me on the ass a lot” while they worked together:
But instead of making it right, he chose to wait it out, in hopes that somehow his sins would go undetected.
I’m not picking on only Matt Lauer here, though it seems fairly certain he deserves whatever consequences he reaps today, but this warning about the perils of secret sin applies to each and every one of us. We all have something we’d cringe over if everyone found out – albeit that doesn’t mean it is necessarily some form of a sexual sin.
Sin that we fail to confess to God AND one another is the worst kind of sin because it holds extra power over you. The fear that comes along with wondering “what happens if my wife finds out? What happens if my co-workers find out?” is crippling. You are afraid to lose your family, your job, your friends. The pattern is devastating, because the fear of exposure keeps the sin hidden, and then the hidden sin grinds away at your soul, giving Satan a stronghold to whisper in your ear ‘you are worthless. You know what you’ve done.’
Secret sin will crush you. Crush your spirit. Crush your ability to witness. Crush your walk with God.
And it’s also pointless to try and keep things in the dark, because, as Jim Denison points out over at TheCourage.com, your private sin never stays private:
Private sin never stays private.
Jesus warned us, “Nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light” (Luke 8:17). He added, “Whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops” (Luke 12:3).
His warning needs continual emphasis because we typically think it doesn’t apply to us. When we are tempted with private immorality, the tempter wants us to believe that such sin will remain private. No one will know or be hurt, he whispers in our ear.
Think about all the powerful men whose personal sins have been exposed in recent weeks. Sitting congressmen, movie executives, business tycoons–if anyone had the power and resources to hide their immorality, they did.
But God’s word applied to them just as it does to us all: “Be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23).
This is so much easier said than done, but never let the fear of man outweigh a healthy fear of God. Man can take your earthly possessions, but those are only temporary. God has authority over your eternal soul, so make Him the priority and who you seek to please. Anything else is just clinging on to the things we don’t want to lose in this world.
The time to repent and come clean is right now. If you wait until someone finds out about whatever it is you are keeping in the dark, you will have no credibility when it finally comes to light – and it will come to light. Without getting into detail, I have had this very thing happen to me – the Holy Spirit literally kicked words out of my mouth that I didn’t physically wish to say. It resulted in the immediate pain I had long feared, but a healing process was initiated because of it.
His will WILL be done, whether you like it or not.
Why try and fight it? No matter what we think, God knows better and whatever he chooses to reveal is ultimately going to work together for the ultimate good.
And the best part is, He is faithful to forgive us, no matter what we’ve done. All we have to do is bring it to him with a truly repentant heart, and we are free.
“If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.” – 1 John 1: 6-10
Who wouldn’t want forgiveness and freedom? It’s the gift that is the grace of God, and we would be wise to accept it.