No Secrets

The view out my office window is a lovely little lake with a slightly rippled surface broken only occasionally by a Canadian goose, a family of Mallards, or a playful otter. When summer storms blow in, it gets worked up into little white-caps; in winter it turns into a glassy expanse with skiffs of swirling snow. Because it is nearly at eye level, my focus has always been on its surface. I've never given much thought about what might be below that surface.

So you can imagine my surprise when I came to work one day this week to find about a dozen pieces of emergency gear, three dozen men, two boats, and three wreckers working along the edge of the water in drizzling rain. It was evident they had found something very interesting in the lake that probably wasn't supposed to be there.

I learned that someone in our building had seen a car go into the lake and sink out of sight. This had prompted frantic phone calls and the arrival of all that emergency equipment.

They worked for half the morning, and sure enough, out came a car. But it could not have been the car that went in earlier that morning, because it had been in the water a long time. Very little of its blue paint remained. it was heavy with mud, and all four tires were flat. They went into the water again and found an even older car with no paint. By this time, they had mapped the bottom of the lake with sonar and determined that there were 5 cars in the water! Clearly, our placid little lake had some secrets.

Late in the day they fond the car that had been seen sinking into the water. It was a late-model Chrysler 300. No driver has been found. Police think this is a dumping ground for stolen cars or cars that have been used in crimes.

This incident reminds me of how some people can maintain a placid surface in their lives while beneath that surface are secrets no one knows about -- maybe an indiscretion, or an uncharacteristic act in a moment of weakness. It could be a former lifestyle that brings painful memories, or an association with other people that now brings embarrassment. As a coping method, humans tend to repress things they would rather not remember.

This is not all bad. We sometimes need to put things into our past and move on to build new lives. If we could never leave the past, we would always be defined by our worst moments and forced to re-live them in all their painful details.

The problem comes when something we have repressed gets dragged out like an old mud-encrusted car. Inevitably, something will happen to uncover one of those old incidents, and it happens at the most unexpected time. It will break to the surface in a new context, often with more fanfare and embarrassment than when it went in. Jesus warned His Disciples of this:

Luke 12:1 . . . Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
2 For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. - AV

Every incident, no matter how small or great, will eventually be revealed in all its detail. In a way, this is both a warning and a comfort. It is a comfort, because we can be assured that all the things for which we have been falsely accused will be cleared up. It is a warning because we can be assured that hidden sins will be found out.

The truth that everything will eventually be revealed is a compelling argument for seeking forgiveness of sins and living a transparent life. If we are going to have to deal with them anyway, why not now? Maybe we think the things we have submerged will rust away to nothing and vanish entirely. That's not what happens. Sooner or later they emerge, and they never look any better the second time.

I close with Paul's admonition to Timothy:

1 Timothy 5:24 Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after.
25 Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand; and they that are otherwise cannot be hid. - AV