Read the whole passage this came from - puts the verse in a different perspective!

My uneducated thoughts - God knows everything, so don’t hide from him. Don’t hide what you’re good at from the world. And importantly, don’t hide God’s word!

Now, waiting for someone to pick holes in the theology of this comment.

My confession is not what I do ‘wrong’ but that I can’t do this without Jesus. There are no secrets from Christ.

I hope that through these Lent passages we can learn what the pharisees failed to realise that we cannot do it of our own accord. My challenge is not to replicate the pharisees profession of self-righteousness but to know I CAN’T do it of on my own. Jesus didn’t come to replace one behavioural management system with just another yoke of striving. I am a sinner, or at least I was! I am more challenged by the notion that I am fully acceptable - not because of any good deeds of my own- but because I am acceptable because of Jesus. Our journey thro’ Lent leads to Jesus and freedom not condemnation

This passage brings to mind the wonderful opening to St Johns gospel - Jesus is the Light who shines in the darkness. I think this passage is also good argument against Gnostic interpretation that some hidden truth lies in the gospel. This truth is not hidden. It is Christ. However, I don’t think we should assume that the church is currently uncovering lots of things which have the church has tried to hide in the past (I guess thats why the ordination of women has popped up) we could be hiding things too for our own purposes today. God alone knows.

Shouldn’t one think in terms of vocation, and thank God for the individual gifts he has given us, both men and women? Let’s thank God for their service in whatever field they serve.

Growing up during a cold war where secrets were defended with nuclear force and in a culture where tabloid journalists scheme their way to unearth our dirty linen - it is worth reminding ourselves that Jesus told us to pray in secret. And that the kingdom of God is hidden and works like yeast. There is a right notion of hiddenness far from our modern concept of privacy. It is where the Spirit works - and where the seed dies and life grows. And its momentum is unstoppable, its vindication inevitable.

When we die, every small detail of our life on earth will be opened up when our soul comes before God.  Hopefully God will be able to see how we learned from our mistakes.

The ordination of women to the diocanate seems to have ruptured the spiritual growth of those, who supported this move, through the withdrawal of our high church ministers who advocated and encouraged the sacrament of confession. I wonder if current female clergy are taught/encouraged in this valuable sacrament of reconciliation which allows the troubled ‘soul’ to experience the grace of God’s forgiveness and love in a one to one meeting with an experienced priest?  Or has the anglican church thrown out this valuable ministry in the interest of new ideas.

This may be a stick to beat ourselves over our secret sins, but perhaps we should also consider the preceding verse, which is the one that gives rise to the proverbial “don’t hide your light under a bushel”.  Our faith is not to be hidden away in secret.  The other end of the stick prods us in Matthew 6:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”  God help me.

It is my experience that keeping, or attempting to keep, secrets can have a devastating effect on relationships. The discovery of a secret or a suspicion that a loved one is withholding something of importance can cause a breakdown of trust which is hard to rebuild. Yet sometimes the fear of openness, when we have done something which we ought not to have done, is hard to overcome. I pray that I may be able to live as if all my thoughts and actions were known to everyone, and that I may welcome openness in others, even when what they have to say is hard for me to hear.

I take comfort in these words.  There are situations in our lives when we can feel frustrated that facts as we see them are not recognised or understood, or people see things from an entirely different perspective.  At these times I believe we can come to Jesus and know his peace in a situation which is beyond human understanding, and trust that in his timing and according to his will, the truth of a situation will become known.

When we die, every small detail of our life on earth will be opened up when our soul comes before God.  Hopefully God will be able to see how we learned from our mistakes.

Do secrets and hidden things always come to light? Quite often in life they do, but most certainly they will afterwards. I found being more open, not concealing things made me feel stronger within myself and more confident, it cut out any pretence. It more importantly made me question the wrong things that would normally be easily swept under my internal carpet.

living as if everything is known to everybody else will help us to live a better Christian life.

Now, I should be working and not doing this, so I will get on as if my MD were in the room with me.

Have a good day everyone!

There is always a choice in life.  Do I choose the right course of action because I am worried about being found out? or do I do the right thing because that is the only way I can respond to God’s love for me? 
Do Jesus’ words therefore act as a challenge to me to act in the right way because it is a certainty that I will be found out, because I am frightended of God? or do they provide a comfort that my ‘right acting’ response to God’s love is a loving response to a loving God, a response made in love not fear?

We have no secrets from God, he knows what is in our heart; but if we want to truly open it to him we must be honest with ourselves and with others.