One or the Other

but we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God 2 Corinthians 4:2

Renounce – Jesus is the man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. According to the Isaiah prophecy, He was rejected by men. John confirms the fact. He came to His own and they spurned Him. As Christians, we shudder at the consequences of such action. Terrible guilt for the death of the Son of God fell upon those people, so much so that when they heard Peter on the day of Pentecost, they were stabbed in the heart. But the saddest fact of all is this: unless we are ready to reject the hidden things of shame in our lives, we are absolutely no different than those who rejected Jesus. In God’s court, it’s either one or the other. Reject our secret sins or reject Jesus. We can’t have both.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful (maybe) if we could just go on living with all those secrets and still have God grant us His favor? Wouldn’t it be nice if heaven were guaranteed in spite of our deliberate refusal to give up the life of disobedience? How much easier would it be not to struggle with holiness? Such fantasy is appealing, but only on the surface. Once we examine the truth of renouncing shameful things, we will see that neither God nor you or I would want it any other way.

Paul uses the word apeipametha. It literally means, “to speak out against, to disown with aversion.” It’s not a word for polite company. It’s a soapbox word. Stand up and be counted. Speak your mind. Don’t allow any confusion about where you stand. Say it like it is. Why does Paul use such strong terms? Because the character and reputation of the Son of God is at stake.

What would you feel like if someone you knew equivocated on your reputation? How would you feel if someone vacillated on endorsing your character? You’d be hurt. All of us want people to stand up for us when it counts. We know the pain of discovering that someone let an insult go by or kept quiet when we should have been defended. That’s the feeling we need in order see the impact of this word. Shameful things, hidden away in the dark corners of our lives, slap God’s Son in the face. They are not hidden from Him. He knows exactly how much these secrets destroy your proclamation of loyalty to Him. He is not blind and, by the way, neither are you. The battlefield is not out here in the visible world. It is on the plane of the invisible, spiritual world, where every hidden, shameful circumstance is the equivalent of sabotage. Treason against the King hides in our secret sins.

So, shout! Scream! Wail! Get it out! Strip the power from the enemy by renouncing the secrets he longs to use to control you. Stand up for the reputation of the Master. Otherwise you are not standing up at all.