No one will ever know

I am a rule-follower through and through. Tell me what to do, I’ll do it. Tell me what not to do, I won’t do it. I don’t have a rebellious bone in my body.

But I am wrapped in sinful flesh.

I grew up in a small town. The baby of my class, I didn’t obtain my driver’s license until the week before my junior year in high school. Most of my friends began driving a year before me, and because my hometown was small and the speed limit didn’t exceed 35MPH, many of my friends began driving at the age of 15.

Not me.

My dad was a police officer. A fellow rule follower and professional rule enforcer. And I’m not implying my friends’ parents weren’t concerned about their well-being, but there was no doubt my parents were highly concerned about mine. For my safety and for their auto insurance premium.

In my desperation to drive, I frequently reminded them everyone else was driving. They didn’t care what everyone else was doing. They weren’t responsible for everyone else. I could drive with them in the passenger’s seat at the age of 15, and the day I turned 16 I could drive alone.

But one day, my friend offered me the keys to her car.

I knew how to drive. I had been through Driver’s Ed, had my permit, and had driven a hundred times with my parents in the car. I took the keys and drove a few blocks across town to the video store and back to our slumber party. Nothing terrible happened. We arrived to our destination and back safely.

My parents never knew. They didn’t ask, and I didn’t tell.

But no sin is ever a secret. Your parents, children, friends, or your spouse may not know about it because you’re hiding it well. Maybe they’ve never asked you, point blank, and so you haven’t brought it up, reasoning what they don’t know won’t hurt them.

But God is not fooled. He knows your sin. He sees it. He is fully aware of it all. Your disobedience, pride, hate, bitterness, addiction, your ________. Whatever it is, you are not hiding it from God. And while that truth may scare you, it actually frees you.

God knows your sin, and if you are willing to confess your sin (by admitting to Him what He already knows), He is faithful and just to forgive your sin and cleanse you of your unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

David said it well in Psalm 32.

“When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. 

Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.” 

Confess, dear friend. He already knows. Release yourself from the guilt that’s entangled you and in turn, embrace God’s forgiveness that’s waiting for you.