IN DEPTH
DANGEROUS SECRETS by Christelle Combrink Are you honestly the same person in your secret thoughts as the person everyone else sees? The only one who will truly know what is in your thoughts is God, the judge of all things. What do your secret thoughts look like? Are they full of hatred and jealousy, lust, feelings of rejection and incompetence, pride? Are you constantly comparing yourself to others? Are you secretly lonely and unappreciated? Selfish and puffed up? It’s a hard question to answer, especially if you don’t keep track of your thoughts. And even if you do, it’s still hard, because you don’t necessarily like the answer. What makes these thoughts so dangerous is that sometimes we aren’t even aware of them ourselves. We then live in the bubble of the false self, the false walk and the false Christian, judging others who do the things we secretly think about. The other danger is knowing your dangerous secrets and keeping it to yourself. You’re setting yourself up for a life full of shame and lies where you might never reach your full potential. Shame holds us back from being the person we’re created to be. All thoughts pondered upon long enough bear either good or bad fruit. Along with secrets come condemnation, and it’s not from God. But awareness of sin is most definitely from God. Reason: so we can “become more holy”. I started to pray this prayer a long time ago and I still have to pray it every now and then. 16
JUNE 2009 TYPOMASH