Just like a coin, we have two sides. There is the side we present to the world and the side we keep to ourselves (the ‘Secret Self’). It’s the private chamber of self that houses all our dirty little secrets. It is the person we are when no one is looking. The secret self we hope is never revealed.It is easy to hide our ‘secret-self’ as we busy ourselves with daily living. We volunteer at church, chair a local event, run for office, and donate monies to charity; to those around us, we are known as a good neighbor in our community. And quite honestly, all outward appearances indicate we are a person of integrity with no secrets to hide.

However, we have to look no further than our US government to see how easy it is to hide the ‘secret self’ from others and deceive them into believing our motives are pure and just. But the tentacles of a ‘secret self’ aren’t limited to those holding office. On a daily basis each of us are faced with subtle forms of deception.

Our ‘secret self’ might harbor a moment of infidelity, the guilt of abortion, hidden addictions, false impressions to gain acceptance, half-truths to promote a sense of worth, watching porn, shop-lifting, being emotionally or physically abusive to a family member. There are no limits to what we have hidden within our ‘secret-self’.

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

One thing is certain; uncovering our ‘secret-self’ is difficult. We have an uncanny way of fusing our ‘secret-self’ to our primary-self to avoid condemnation. We present our ‘secret-self’ like this, “It won’t hurt anyone. No one will ever know. Nobody’s perfect”.
But with God there is no sliding scale on sin, deception or integrity. We can hide our ‘secret-self’ from family, neighbors and friends, but God is not fooled.  He wants our ‘secret-self’ to authentically align with the integrity we outwardly profess.  When we harbor a ‘secret-self’, we function in life with crossed fingers and an “I hope no one finds out” frame of mind. Perhaps you desire to purge and cleanse your ‘secret-self’, but aren’t sure where to start.

The formula is really quite simple. Let the Word of God become the foundation of your convictions, motives and desires. When we allow God to examine our life under His microscope our secret-life persona is revealed. There is no more covering up those things we have hidden in the secret chamber of our heart.

Revealing our ‘secret-self’ means getting down to the nitty-gritty and uncovering our hidden sins before God. Once we disclose our hidden deceptions, a cleansing process takes place. Godly integrity is restored to us and we become empowered by our convictions and give way to God’s will.

If you want to be authentic in Christ, you must be willing to admit your sins before God, even the hidden sin. When we do, He redeems us from our ‘secret-self’ and creates within us a pure and clean heart that authentically represents Christ in every aspect of our life.

Today’s Meditation:
“God, create a pure heart in me, and renew a right attitude within me.” (Psalms 51:10)