God of Secrets

Jesus told the crowds gathered on the hillside that God sees what is done in secret. Actually, He told them three times...in the same sermon (Matthew 6:4, 6, 18). 

When He said this, He was talking about things like prayer and generosity. Things the Pharisees did in very public places so that everyone would know how holy they are. The point of His statement was that true holiness isn't defined by the things you do where other humans can see you or by how much recognition you get for your prayer or sacrifice or whatever; true holiness is defined by what God sees when He looks at you, and He's not looking at you standing in the streets, shouting. 

(He is, but He's not...you know what I mean.) 

Yet, when many of us think about these verses, about Jesus's words that God sees what you do in secret, what we think of most immediately is our own failures. Our quiet little moments of not getting it right. The little things we mutter under our breath. Our "secret" sins that we wouldn't want anyone else to know about. The times we're afraid that someone might come unexpectedly walking in on us, and then suddenly, we remember that God already sees what we're doing. 

Yikes. 

But that's not what Jesus said. 

Jesus said that God hears your prayers that are said in secret and sees your generosity that is done in quiet. Which means that God's not looking for your mess-ups; He's looking for the little bits of good that you're putting out into the world without anyone noticing it. He's looking for the little acts of faithfulness that you engage in when no one's watching. He's looking for the kind of relationship you have with Him when it's not being judged by anyone else. 

He already knows your sin. That's why He sent Jesus in the first place. That's why His Son was here on earth to say those words on that hillside two thousand years ago. Because God already knew you were a sinner. 

But if you actually look at it, Jesus spends very little of His time talking about your sin and a great big lot of His time talking about God's Kingdom. He spends more time talking about healing and forgiveness than condemnation. He invested His short few years here on earth with us in telling and showing us what real faithfulness looks like...and faithfulness is very different than sinlessness (which, by the way, you're never going to achieve). 

He spent His time talking about what He came to do - being holy. Being faithful. Being righteous. 

Those are the secret things He's looking for. 

Not some sin He already knows about. That's just the serpent and the fig leaves and the bush all over again. 

But we put that narrative to bed a long time ago. The narrative we have now is the manger, the cross, and the tomb. And that's far, far better. 

So go be righteous. Go do quiet little things. Go pray where only God can hear you, give where only God can see, love Him in ways only God knows you're loving Him. For this pleases your Father in Heaven, who treasures every one of these little things done in secret and rewards you for them.