Proverbs 28:13 (NLT)

People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.

Have you ever experienced that “sinking feeling” in your stomach when a police car appears behind you on the highway…or shows up in a hidden place along the road with a radar gun at the ready? Of course, if you always obey the speed limit you have never experienced that sensation…but I’m pretty sure you have blown past the speed limit a time or two. The feeling is almost as old as human existence itself and finds its origin in the Garden of Eden:

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.  Gen 3:7-8

Adam and Eve…meet Guilt, Shame, and Separation.

Foolishly, our most distant relatives thought they could “conceal their sin” from God, who already knew what had happened (as always). In His kindness and mercy, God gave Adam the opportunity to repent, but instead, Adam chose to blame his wife. Eve, when given the same opportunity, passed the blame on to the serpent. Neither confessed. Neither turned. Both were judged. Sadly, not much has changed since then as mankind has continued the vicious cycle of sin, concealment, and judgment.

Sin always comes with a price. For those outside of Christ, sin’s ultimate wage is eternal death and judgment (Rom. 6:23), as well as suffering the more immediate results. For spiritual Children of God, concealed and unconfessed sin creates a loss of fellowship with God. They remain His Children yet are estranged by their guilt and shame and cut off from His greater blessings. The anointed 20th century revivalist, Vance Havner, said, “Sin is spiritual cancer, and the man who tries to live with it dies of it.” Like any other cancer, we must face sin’s harsh reality and treat it – via confessions and repentance – lest we be destroyed by it.