Proverbs 28:13 (NLT)
13 People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if
they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.
A person who attempts to conceal their sin finds that
when they hide their sin they do nothing for themselves. In hiding sin they do
not learn to grow spiritual. They fail to deal with the sin of the past so they
can move forward into the future. Holding onto secret sin keeps an opportunity
for mercy to be given.
Married for 16 years and with two great kids, Kurt
Stansell seems to have it all together. He has a successful investment
counseling business, and he's a founding elder at his church. And he's a sex
addict. Kurt's the first to admit it.
For years, Kurt struggled with pornography. It started
with magazines, but eventually turned into visits to Triple-X theaters and
strip joints. Kurt kept repeating a cycle of guilt and remorse, then prayer and
repentance, only to find himself back at it again.
Eventually, Kurt found an accountability partner named
Stan. At first, Kurt held back, being less than honest about his problem. But
when he finally confessed, telling Stan the whole truth, Kurt immediately felt
a weight lifted from his shoulders. He was on the road to victory.
"I began to understand what shame does," Kurt
says. "When we Christians try to hide something in the darkness, we give
Satan incredible license to work in our lives. So, the more open I could be,
the less of a hold Satan seemed to have." [Gregg Lewis, author of The Power of a
Promise Kept. Men of Integrity, Vol. 1, no. 1.]
Satan loves to take the hidden sin in our lives and use
it against us to accuse us over and over. It is a trap so many people have
fallen into. They try to hide their problem, they feel guilty about their
problem and they restart their cycle of sin because they have not trusted
anyone to help them through their problem.There is freedom in letting go of hidden sin. Yes, we may have consequences to face, but the burden and weight of sin is lifted from us making us free.
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