Daily Devotional for Saturday April 5, 2014
Your Secret Life
(Psalm 90:8; Numbers 32:23; Ecclesiastes 12:14; Luke 12:2; Jeremiah 23:24)
***ASK BILL: Pastor Bill, I believe Jesus was immaculately conceived by God and born of a virgin, but what about the sin of Mary? She wasn't born without sin, so how did her sin not pass to Jesus?
ANSWER: That is why our Lord was immaculately conceived by the Holy Spirit and not by Joseph. The fact Mary was a virgin, does NOT mean she was sinless as some erroneous man-made Roman Catholic traditions teach. Despite being God's vessel for the birth of our Lord, she was a human being, conceived in the normal way, and like ALL people, sinned during her life in addition to being born with "original sin" (the sin of Adam). If Jesus had been conceived by Joseph and Mary, their sin would have been passed on to Jesus just like Adam's sin is passed on to each person born. Being conceived by the Holy Spirit allowed Jesus to be born void of original sin, and the fact He lived a sinless life, is why He could die on the cross for the sins of all mankind.
YOUR "secret life!" Nine years ago in the heart of the Midwest, a serial killer who operated for over 30 years was apprehended. This was not your typical serial killer, but was literally "the guy next door!" For 3 decades, the city of Wichita, Kansas was haunted by BTK (bind, torture, kill), a serial killer responsible for at least 10 deaths over a 30 year period. This brazen killer who became famous as much for taunting local law enforcement and the media was finally arrested on February 25th 2005, ending that city's nightmare.
Perhaps as shocking as the long and brutal reign of this killer, is who BTK turned out to be. At the time he was apprehended, Dennis Rader was a 60-year-old man, married with grown children, who was not only a former Cub Scout leader but the church council president of his local Lutheran Church. He had been working as a code-enforcement supervisor. My friend, this is the guy who lives next door to you!!! However, Dennis Rader, for decades was living a secret life!
Do you have a secret life??? The truth is, right now this very moment, many of YOU are also living a secret life. Your secret life is not to the extreme of Rader's where you are out killing people, but you live one life your family and friends see, while maintaining a completely separate life. Without a doubt, the secret life most people live, men AND women, involves sex.
Your secret life may be looking at porn on the Internet or watching X-movies on TV. For men it may be frequenting adult bookstores, strip clubs, massage parlors, or buying prostitutes, For men and women, it may be picking up someone at a club or bar, or getting involved in an affair with someone at work or even a neighbor. It is especially common in people who are often out of town on business where it is easy to live a secret life since nobody knows you. Your secret life my be swinging, BDSM, homosexuality, or other sexual perversions.
For other people their secret life involves spending money. They live a secret life that revolves around shopping and purchasing things that in most cases they don't even need. This would also include those whose secret life is gambling. Years ago the former Secretary of Education and Drug Czar William Bennett had his secret life exposed to the world when it was revealed he had a million dollar gambling habit. With gambling now legal in most every state as well as available online, millions of people are currently leading a secret life that nobody knows about, spending hours and hours gambling away the resources God has entrusted to them.
For still other people, their secret life may be that of an abuser, a life only their husband, wife, and family knows about. Others live a secret life using alcohol and drugs. Years ago, the nation was shocked to learn of the battle former first lady Betty Ford had with alcohol, and just a decade ago it was revealed that talk radio king Rush Limbaugh was addicted to prescription pain medicine. The reality is, MANY people are living secret lives. These secret lives are born in sin. Guilt and shame and conscience drive people to do things in secret that they would never do if people knew. People who have a secret life are in bondage to sin!
One of the things that I share with you often is the huge price of sin. Sins costs. Sin also does not remain hidden forever. Please listen carefully to what I am about to share with you. SIN WILL ALWAYS BE EXPOSED! God will allow your sin to be exposed, it is only a matter of time. The sad reality is, we get so blinded by sin that we spend so much time, and effort, and energy covering up our sin. However, in the end, despite all that effort to hide our sin it will be exposed for the world to see. If we took that same amount of time, and effort, and energy into obeying God as we do in sinning against Him, instead of paying the price for our sins we would be enjoying the blessings of our obedience!!!
I love you and care about you so much. I realize that many of you reading these words today are actually living a secret life. Your secret life is not that of a serial killer, but in order to continue committing the sin you are in bondage to, you have had to live a totally separate life apart from the one most people know about. Please understand that it is no accident or no coincidence that God has allowed you to read these words today. He is speaking to your heart.
Let me give you a word of encouragement. If you are living a secret life, God is giving you an opportunity today to end that secret life now before you get in any deeper. The Lord wants to set you free from whatever sin you are in bondage to so that you can live your life in freedom, without having to lie, and hide, and plot, and scheme, simply to accommodate your sin. If you continue, it is only a matter of time before your sin is revealed, your secret life is exposed, and you end up paying a huge price.
I will be praying for you today my friend. Praying that you will listen to the voice of God and TURN from your sin, not tomorrow but today. Jesus is there, waiting to help you find the strength and courage to live your life free from the bondage of the sin you are in, so that you no longer have to live a secret life!
In His love and service, Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller