If you do not have things in your life that you have kept secret because you feel ashamed or embarrassed,  please stand up. I need to meet you! I know that there are many people in this part of the world with the name Jesus but your last name is certainly in Spanish and definitely not in Greek as in the anointed one. Jesus Christ is the only one who never sinned. As for you and I, and even that sweet grandma next door, we all have had skeletons in our closet. As you read this you may still have hidden secrets that cause you to have sleepless nights at the thought of anyone finding out. Maybe that envious friend is trying hard to drag your skeletons out of the closet into the exhibition hall downtown so the world can see that you are not as good as you have led people to think you are.

Truth is, we have all done some things in our lives that made us feel really ashamed, then we prayed hard that we would not be exposed and disgraced. Sometimes the errors we made were things that could have cost us a  job, a marriage or a valued friendship. Most often those around us are only too eager to gossip about our weaknesses and mistakes. Because we don’t want to be ridiculed, we have learnt how to keep those secrets in the darkest closets.

Today I want to encourage you to stop hiding.  The Bible says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Even those friends who are mocking you have sinned, yes even the church folk! Those who look like they are perfect have sinned. The friends on Facebook and Whatsapp having a party about your shame have sinned. Your parents, teacher, pastor and this writer have sinned! In fact many who appear faultless have probably just mastered the art of keeping their own shameful secrets well tucked away.

The devil loves it when we hide things because when we hide we will not be able to get the help we desperately need. After Adam and Eve sinned in the garden by eating the fruit, what happened? You guessed right, they became ashamed and hid from God. This is how the devil deceives us. There is nothing that God does not see. The good news is, there is nothing too shameful that Jesus cannot forgive if we come to him rather than hide. There is no mistake that His blood cannot wash. 1 John 1:7 says that Jesus is the light and his blood cleanses us from all sin. Isaiah 1:18 says ‘though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow’. Allow the light of Christ to shine in every dark place in your life. Let his light come into every dark closet and the Holy Spirit will help you to move past your shameful past or present. So what if people laugh at you or look at you differently because they found out about something you did? When the woman was caught in adultery in John 8:1-11, Jesus asked anyone who had never sinned to cast the first stone at her and we all know that not even one person could do so. All Jesus is asking of you is that you go and sin no more.

I have learnt to use my mistakes, weaknesses and shameful secrets to testify when I am ministering to others. When you have repented of your previous ways, every skeleton changes from a thing of shame to a source of power to transform another life by the finished work on the cross through the blood of Jesus. Let those who want to laugh at you have their fun at your expense, when Jesus is done with you, they will come to you for help. Like Job’s friends, they will one day need you to pray for them. Can the dry bones live again? I dare say yes, every skeleton that encounters Jesus, when the wind of the Holy Ghost blows on it, it will have new life and  become a mighty soldier in the army of the most high God. As for me, I’m trading my shame, I’m  laying them down for the joy of the Lord!