At times, Satan deepens our isolation by convincing us that our sin is so bad that we can’t talk with anyone about it. If we believe him, we give him leverage to use against us.
In the movie Training Day, Denzel Washington’s character, Alonzo, pressures the rookie into using some of the drugs they have confiscated. He says that everyone on his team must do it, or they can’t be part of the team. He says that it’s part of the research that enables them to be convincing undercover in the field. In a weak moment, the rookie caves, and in doing so, he compromises his integrity.
Once Alonzo knows that the rookie has drugs in his system, he can now manipulate the rookie to go along with his illegal activities. Every time the rookie thinks about going to the authorities, Alonzo reminds him that he has the drugs in his system. “Who’s going to believe a drug addict over an officer with a long list of achievements?” The rookie no longer has any integrity to stand on. He can’t turn Alonzo in without being implicated himself.
The Enemy uses this same tactic on us. First, he tempts us to sin. Once we have given in to a sin that we don’t want anyone else to know about, he uses it to force us deeper into isolation. Satan doesn’t want us reaching out to those who might help us, so he tells us that those people would no longer accept us if they knew what we had been doing. They would be disgusted, disillusioned, disappointed… Satan fills us with F.E.A.R. about the consequences of our sin. We might lose our marriages, our jobs, our reputation, our friends or worse.
Sin flourishes in darkness, so even though we don’t want to sin again, we do. Once we’ve crossed our moral boundaries once, it’s easy to cross them again…and again…and again… Our sins accumulate, and we cross new boundaries that we thought we never would. We live in constant fear that someone will discover them. But at the same time, we almost hope that someone will catch us if only so that we don’t have to live a secret life anymore.
This downward spiral almost always leads to exposure and serious consequences. Of course, the consequences would be much less if we would seek help early in the process, but we too often believe the lie that there’s no one we can turn to, no one who would understand. Don’t fall for it. Even if you are at a high level of leadership or in the public eye, God can show you at least one person that will share your burden and help you to get free from your sin. By confessing your sin to God and to those you trust, you remove Satan’s leverage in your life.
Wallbuilder Ministries 