Sometimes I read a passage of the Bible that I’ve read a hundred times before, and a verse will jump out at me, grab me by the throat, punch me in the gut, make me sweat in fear and then terrorize me for weeks! (God tends to be rather dramatic with me; it must be the only way He can get my attention!)

I recently had such an encounter with God’s word. I was preparing for one of our summer Equipping Classes when Luke 12:2-3 mercilessly assaulted me. Jesus is speaking to His disciples and says,

“There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.”

I don’t know about you, but when I really stop and consider Jesus’ words here, it scares the heck out of me! I feel like I’ve done a pretty good job learning my lesson that gossip is bad (Proverbs 16:28, 2 Corinthians 12:20). I don’t share “secrets” with people I think might spread the choice little morsels along to someone else. We’ve all experienced the painful consequences of gossip, and I genuinely (at least most of the time) don’t want my careless words to get around and harm someone else.

But that’s really not what Jesus is talking about in Luke 12. He seems to be saying that even if you have a confidante, someone you can really trust not to spread a story, you still need to realize that someday what you said is going to be brought out into the open. That suggests that I’m going to be held responsible for the stuff I tell my wife or my best friend in confidence. Even if I’m just “venting” and want to rag on what so-and-so said or did, I need to be careful; what I say in my frustration or in my self-righteous attitude is going to be revealed publicly. I won’t be able to keep what I said a secret forever! People are going to hear what I said in secret about them. Awkward!

The bigger issue for me in all of this is attitude. My attitude affects others, whether I share a nasty little secret with a tattle-tale or with a closed-mouth confidante, I have still infected that person with a negative attitude. Even if it doesn’t spread around to the general population, I have made pursuing a godly life difficult for a brother or sister in Christ by sharing a petty complaint that I could have just surrendered to Jesus in my personal prayer life. And I’ve also discovered that my own negative attitude is reinforced when I share my opinions with another person. If I moan and groan to someone else about how stupid or careless or selfish this other person is, I just give more fuel for the fire and I find myself getting more angry or judgmental.

So for the last couple of weeks, when I’m tempted to say something bad about someone in secret, I’m having to think twice. I admit that sometimes I’ve given in and not used the filter ability God has given me. But a couple of times, I actually stopped myself from saying something that was simply a selfish complaint, something that wasn’t going to help anybody by being said, and just talked to Jesus about it. You know, it’s funny, when you go to the Savior, the One who has had compassion on my sorry soul, I find it hard to complain for too long! Instead, I usually find myself realizing that it wasn’t such a big deal after all and I can actually choose to let it go. I know that there are times when we all need to confide our frustrations and struggles with someone close to us, but I want to be guard myself from whispering careless “secrets” that someday are going to be announced on a loudspeaker for all to hear.

posted by:
Mark Shetler
Pastor of Student Ministries & Missions

Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor
and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the
wicked.