November 11, 2011
“And this is the message I proclaim—that the day is coming when God, through Christ Jesus, will judge everyone’s secret life.” … “on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.” New Living Translation/English Standard Version
God’s cross-nailed secret is that He’s going to judge everyone’s secrets … in Jesus Christ. God’s Word doesn’t say that in order to “scare” you into godly living. He tells us because He loves us enough to invite us to walk in the light-piercing .. light-revealing .. light-cleansing power of His crucified-risen Life. All of your secrets are going to be seen in the light of Christ. That’s the comforting side of walking by faith in Christ. Still … we are prone to keeping secrets from each other and even though we know better .. from God. We don’t actually think we can keep anything from God, but we’ll hope that God will look the other way if we somehow make up for hidden things in our hearts. Secrets kill. They kill you on the inside and they unleash unbelievable and uncontrollable wounds and brokenness in other lives. Not everyone walks around with dark demon-filled secrets. Not everyone is carrying around shame-filled secrets. And not everyone lives tormented by sin-filled secrets. The Lord could wait until you decide to clean up the stained and spotted areas of your life … but He doesn’t. He steps right into the unseen places as well as the often found-out places and unleashes His kindness. We fear His wrath .. His anger .. and His rejection and instead He reaches for you with His kindness .. His steadfast love .. and His indefatigable patience. And what does Jesus do to you? He invites you to trust in His radical life-change inside of you. He offers you the gift of repentance .. a new heart .. a cleansed heart .. and a fresh start in your life. This world offers no such promise but can only deceive you into thinking that “your little secret” is safe. The only safe place for your life and everything in you is in Christ Jesus … God’s wide open secret. And should you be carrying something that is killing you inside … it only takes a moment …
“Or did you think that because he’s such a nice God, he’d let you off the hook? Better think this one through from the beginning. God is kind, but he’s not soft. In kindness he takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change.” … “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” Romans 2:4 The Message/New American Standard
Ken Chester: Grace-Gripped is sent M-F to Radically Changed Lives following Jesus and friends of Priority One (ken@priorityone.org)
