A “right of passage” I remember embracing as a young teenage girl is the day I used my allowance to purchase a diary. While boys have secret thoughts too, girls by nature like to document personal thoughts as “sacred writings” kept in a designated book called a diary. The importance of such writings is emphasized by the fact that most diary’s come with a key for locking away ones deepest and most personal thoughts. The key is often worn on a chain around the neck of the author, lest anyone dare be tempted to open her book and read what is meant for her eyes only!

If you are over fifty years old, you may be familiar with what I call a mother’s proverb; “Do nothing you would not want to have appear on the front page of the newspaper for all the world to see.” Given the current technology of cell phones, a camera rests in someone’s hand at all times, night and day. Security cameras run 24/7 in public areas, and social media is now the preferred platform for documenting one’s deepest thoughts. Some people see progress as exposing unbridled desires for all the world to see; such desires, once considered locked up safe and sound by the key hanging around ones neck, now threaten to find their way onto a Twitter-feed.

Wherever you find yourself on the spectrum of privacy, one thing is certain; God knows everything about you and me. Whether we choose to bare our souls before the world or not, we have no secrets before The Creator. And, He knows not only what we do, God knows every thought we have, every unspoken desire, and even the intentions of our hearts. I pray that this reality keeps us ever humble and eternally thankful for Jesus. His cross of reconciliation is our only hope of facing God “as one approved.”

For deeper insight, this week I invite you to read the book of 2 Timothy.

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