Covering Up Sin

This week I posted this on my Facebook:

“So you’ve turned from a life of sin.  What lengths do you go to cover up your tracks?”

   I thought I’d answer my own question here in this space, because it wouldn’t fit under comments.

   I guess to me, the phrase ‘cover up’ sounds misplaced.  When I think of someone covering something up, it’s usually in reference to someone who is afraid that they will get caught.  They aren’t really sorry that they did the deed.  They just don’t want to be found out.

  Having been forgiven, I’m really not proud of my shame, but I don’t live in hiding either.  So where I don’t feel the need to cover my old life as some dirty secret, there are reasons why we don’t intentionally broadcast our past depravity.  Here are a couple of reasons.

God Will Forgive You – The World Probably Won’t.

  If you have believed in Christ, in the way you have been called, your sins are forgiven.  The world however is not so forgiving.  Oh.  They say they are tolerant.  In actual fact, we are the ones who are expected to be tolerant.

  If I say Tiger Woods, we remember his infidelity.  If you were alive during Nixon’s time, you will no doubt associate his memory with scandal.  God wipes the slate clean for those who receive His pardon.  The world will hold your crimes against you as long as she can remember them, perhaps longer.

  It’s no secret that employers often pass over potential employees after discovering their dirt.  So maybe the picture with you and the crack pipe would be better left off of your Timeline.  Just saying.  You might be proud of who you were and all, but it might hamper your future.

The Immaturity of Others

  If everyone was jumping off of a bridge would you?  A lot of people would.  I had the privilege of listening to this conversation between a man and a son a few weeks ago.

  “Hey dad.  I want to do STUPID THING”

  “Don’t do STUPID THING son.  It’s stupid”

  “Sure dad.  But you did STUPID THING when you were younger.”

  “I know son.  But it’s really stupid.  So you shouldn’t do STUPID THING.”

  “That’s not fair dad.  You did STUPID THING when you were young, so why can’t I do STUPID THING now?”

   Unless you live under a rock, you have known people to do stupid things, just because other people did stupid things.   You probably know of people who were unfaithful, because someone else was unfaithful.

  Just so you know.  The young man ended up doing STUPID THING.  People are dumb.  We use the sins of others to justify our own.  When others find out your sins, some of them will be tempted to use them to justify doing the same.

  This isn’t the whole story on the topic.  It’s only part of it.  There is a place to publicly confess, as a way to speak against the issue itself.  Feel free to write that part yourself.