Robert & Kay Camenisch encouraging and equipping relationships

God’s Spotlight

This past week three well-known, admired people made the news because secrets about them have been revealed. Things they have kept hidden are now in the spotlight for all the world to know. It’s impossible to hide a secret well enough that God’s spotlight can’t find it in the darkness.

Once hidden secrets are now the target of articles, blogs, and tweets as well as sidewalk chat as everyone makes comment on the latest revelations. But I’ll refrain from joining their ranks.

I’m reminded of the time that the Scribes and Pharisees brought a woman who was caught in adultery before Jesus to be stoned, “He straightened up [from writing in the sand], and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7).

The woman’s guilt was obvious. She was caught in the act, but Jesus, the Son of God, did not join in the chorus of condemnation. Instead, He turned the spotlight on the accusers.

He led them to search their own hearts.

In response to the latest revelations, I believe that we too need to search our own hearts.

We need to consider:

  1. Jesus said, “There is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known” (Matt. 10:26). We’ve seen how quickly and unexpectedly hidden sin can be revealed. God knows all things anyway. It is so much better to humble ourselves and confess in the appropriate time and place (Jas. 5:16) rather than be found by a spotlight.
  2. God disciplines those He loves (Rev. 3:19). Sin blocks our relationship with Him (Is. 59:2). When He shines His light in the dark corners of our lives, it is an expression of His love for us so sin can be removed and we can walk in freedom and victory with Jesus.
  3. We are all tempted (1 Cor 10:13), and we have all fallen to temptation. Jesus said that when we look at a woman with lust, we have committed adultery already. We may not have lusted for a woman or a child, but how often has our heart yearned for things that were not of God? (Matt. 5:28). Can we justify pointing our fingers at another?
  4. Jesus said, “Do not judge lest you be judged” (Matt. 7:1). God is judge. It is not our place to judge the guilty person as to motives or to condemn him/her by our gossip.
  5. We need to pray for the person that has failed, their family and others involved. Pray for God’s kingdom to come and His will to be done in their lives (Matt. 6:10), or join Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians, “that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe” (Eph 1:18-19).
  6. We need to pray for ourselves, that God would shine His light on any hidden sin and give us courage and humility to repent and confess. But for the grace of God, go I.
  7. God will come to our aid to help us resist temptation (Heb. 2:18). Furthermore, He won’t allow us to be tempted beyond what we can resist if we call on Him (1 Cor. 10:13).

Instead of focusing on the sins of others, we need to ask God to shine His light on us. Like David, we can pray,  “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way” (Ps. 139:23-24).

God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:5-7).

We don’t have to fear the spotlight revealing our secrets, we can run to the light and be cleansed of our sins.