Can you think of the last time you sinned or made a mistake? You probably had a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach. You were scared someone would discover what you did or how you treated someone.
The feeling caused you to reel back in fear. You felt the only thing you could do was to conceal your actions and hope no one noticed what you did.
Photo by Drew Graham
Concealing your poor choices, actions, and sins will do you no good. In fact, concealing your actions will often lead to severe consequences.
Why We Conceal
You may not think you conceal much when you first think about this topic. Yet, I want to challenge you to think about what you’re concealing.
You may be concealing:
- Your angry thoughts
- A moral failure
- Fear and anger
- Suicidal thoughts
- Bitterness towards a parent
- Resentment of a spouse
- Or a plethora of other things
We don’t conceal because we want to hurt someone else. Or ourselves. We often conceal our sin and mistakes because we’re scared of hurting people.
Sharing your actions is an exposing action. You open yourself up to criticism, judgment, and more. Concealing is far easier.
Yet concealing your faults won’t turn out well in the end. Concealment brings consequences.
The Consequences Of Concealment
Andy Stanley once said:
We fear the consequences of confession because we have yet to realize the consequences of concealment.
Often, the consequences of confession are swift and decisive. You confess to a sin or to a mistake and you quickly see the results of your choices. Sometimes those consequences are severe. Sometimes they’re not. Often, the consequences are not what we believe they will be.
However, by concealing your actions, you bring about harsher results.
The consequences of concealment are far and wide. Common consequences are:
- Paranoia: You are constantly wondering who’s going to find out what you’re concealing. This will lead you to constantly look at others with a suspect eye.
- Guilt: You know what you’ve done. Without owning up to your actions, there is an undertow of guilt that will eat at you until your actions are exposed.
- Lying: If you’re concealing a mistake or sinful action, you’re probably lying about what happened. Lying has its own consequences but is also a consequence of concealment.
- Broken relationships: Trust and respect seep out of relationships that are steeped in concealment. If you’re being dishonest in your interactions with others, there’s a high likelihood your relationships will become broken.
- Harsher penalties: Many times, if you’re honest and upfront when something goes wrong, you can confess your actions and the penalties will be lighter. The choice to conceal what happened often brings harsher penalties.
Be careful if you choose to conceal your actions. It’s often an indication of a much deeper issue. It’s also a sure-fire way to bring about harsher consequences than if you were open to begin with.
Question: How have you seen concealment affect a leader? Share your story in the comment section below.
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.