There are no secrets.
That is why secret sins are eventually brought to light.
We often act as though we are alone in life and if we do something depraved, evil, or sinful no one notices. But that is a lie from the Fall that remains with us today.
When Eve succumbed to the reasoning of the Serpent and then Adam rebelled knowingly God was there, he was aware of all that had taken place. His arrival and subsequent questions were Gods way of making the sinner accountable.
As we grow and mature in the grace of God and continue to develop a relationship with Jesus and the Person of the Holy Spirit the Fruit of the Spirit begins to appear in our lives.
It reminds of the tomato plant, often called a stray the springs up in a place unintended and bears wonderful delicious fruit.
God is not limited by our limitations.
The mundane moments of our day, the drudgery and boring work we do that goes unnoticed (by men) are places that the fruit of the spirit appears.
Mother Teresa once said, Wash the plate, not because it is dirty, nor because you are told to wash it, but because you love the person who will use it next.
I remember my late mothers’ dedication to the mundane trivial things of our days. I often did not get it (I do now!). That is why we must respect our mothers and fathers as they work hard in the small things. We must help singles moms in their fight to provide both physically and spiritually for their children.
In that wilderness of the mundane we seek respite. We grow tired and yes often we are unappreciated by those around us. Yet God is always observing, Angels watch, as do Demons. We are never by ourselves and truly alone.
We must be intentional; we must contemplate our lives and as we read scripture and pray, we must seek Gods help to live a Gospel Centered life. Perhaps life has brought you to a difficult place. Perhaps you have made bad decisions, sinful decisions that has resulted in great hardship or maybe life is extremely hard, and you do not know why.
Remember that our life situation or circumstance is not ultimately a matter of random chance, nor of any mistakes we have made, nor even of the series of events leading up to the present, but of God’s providence.
That makes the tasks in front of us, at least for today or for the moment, God’s assignment to us.
Be mindful that God’s providence does not nullify or negate the decisions you have made — and perhaps the mistakes or sins — that led you to this point in life, nor does it or should it discourage us from striving for better circumstances. But God’s providence does teach us, as the Heidelberg Catechism puts it, that “leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, food and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, indeed, all things, come to us not by chance but by his fatherly hand.”
No matter how we got where we are, everything ultimately comes from our Father’s hand.
Christians often imagine judgment day in which the focus will fall on the grand acts of sin and righteousness. No doubt it will — but not only that. When Jesus and the apostles speak of that day, they often focus on life’s ordinary moments.
“On the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak,” Jesus tells us (Matthew 12:36). God will also reward his people for the smallest good works they do by his grace: giving to the needy (Matthew 6:4), praying in the closet (Matthew 6:6),fasting in secret (Matthew 6:18), even for giving a cup of cold water to one of Christ’s disciples (Matthew 10:42).
Jonathon Edwards had his resolutions that he read weekly. Here is an example: “ Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God’s glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriad’s of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many and how great soever.”
God sometimes does call us to do exceptional things: to adopt children, launch ministries, to plant or pastor a church, to move overseas into missions. The fact is none of us will do anything exceptional unless we have first learned, through ten thousand small deeds of faithfulness, to be exceptional in the ordinary.
We are never alone. Faithfulness, remember, is a fruit of the Spirit as well.
We might be in our favorite place, folding laundry, or cleaning the floor. Regardless the Lord is with us just the same. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21).