There’s a secret I must tell…
The scripture reading in Lectio Divina the other day came from Matthew chapter six. Christ is speaking and he tells everyone how they should approach the disciplines of their faith. The main ideas I see here are that our time with God is supposed to be genuine and from the heart. We’re not supposed to be drawing attention to ourselves, but turning the attention to God, which may mean being alone. It’s in this secret place, in the shadow of the temple where God reveals himself to us. It’s a very humble thing to worship God and be completely alone. My mind began to wander off on several tangents as we continued reading, but it all came back to the text. I began to think about the metaphor of the two roads. There’s the wide road which leads to destruction, and then there’s the narrow road which leads to God. I started to think that maybe there are actually three roads, and one of them is a secret. Imagine it like this:
First there is the wide road to destruction. This one is obvious. It’s the way of the world, and the easy way to get what we want here and now. Now for the second road… This road appears to be leading toward God, but it’s very narrow. To follow this road you must be perfect in every way, and earn each step as you go. This is what I would call the road of the Pharisees. It’s the road of most modern religion too. Obey these things, make yourself look as righteous as possible and you will be walking on this path. For many people this road begins at the cross, but I’m not sure where it leads. The third road is much harder to find because it is a secret. This way begins in the shadow of the cross and moves forward along winding roads into secret places which are hidden from the other roads. This road is one of grace and pure intentions. It’s on the secret path that God shepherds us into his arms. This way moves slow and it’s often hard to see, but you don’t have to be an Olympian to trek it. The best part of this road is that it is in the shade, and we have help moving forward, even when we feel like we can’t go on.
I think that many times we make a big deal about which path we’re on. We might be on the secret path, but then we jump up and down and say, “Hey everyone! The path is right here!” and we mistakenly get people on the second path instead of the third. How much more effective would it be to go up to someone and say, “There’s a secret I must tell…” and then take them by the hand to the secret path. I think it becomes far more sacred and far more personal. What if the gospel was meant to be a secret? I think that if we tried to keep the gospel a secret that we would actually have more Christians in the world. I mean look at the church in China. Secret churches are everywhere! That’s gotta be exciting to be a part of. The best secrets are the hardest to keep. If we treat the message of Christ as a secret, and hide his word in our hearts then I think we will see one of the greatest resurgences of the church in the history of the world.
The knowledge of the secrets of the Kingdom have been entrusted to you. So may you remember that God rewards what is done in secret. May you walk the secret path, and may you share the greatest secret of them all: Jesus is the way.
