We live in an age of shareability and self-promotion, an era where so many seem to want to be noticed and get attention. However, Jesus flew in the face of the way in which we are living today because He often operated in secrecy. He made a practise of going to lonely places to pray to his Father in secret. He would avoid the wrong kind of adulation from people and was a friend to the lowly. The first way of implementing the discipline of secrecy is to abstain from doing good deeds or works for God – like the Pharisees did – where the motive for doing so is to be noticed and/or loved. The only reward in doing this, will be that which is received from man, but nothing from our Father in heaven. On the other hand, when the motivation of our good deeds is to love others and glorify God and his goodness, it is acceptable to him. Because God loves us, He wants that hunger for fame and recognition as well as the need for justification to be destroyed in our hearts. He ignores all of our efforts to gain these things by acting up. All of this neediness is a sign of a wounded soul. God’s aim is to graciously heal- and develop our souls and character in the darkness, a quiet, secret place where there is no recognition or pampering of our neediness. This is the place where we learn to love unconditionally and become trustworthy. There are certain things and certain areas which God requires from us to keep secret for the purpose of personal soul training, to help us grow in humility and dependence upon him alone, to become whole. In the Kingdom the route up is the root down, way down. As Christians we need to live our lives for an audience of one, and the attention of no one else. The discipline of secrecy is to train your heart and soul to subdue that thing in yourself that wants to fix everything and take control instead of trusting God for your spiritual life. He is the one who lifts up and brings down according to his will. This discipline is the one where we learn to serve with the right motive, of abstinence, self-denial, and becoming a trustworthy keeper of secrets. In the place of secrecy we grow in receiving from God, in a healthy way, that which every human being needs – acceptance, worth or value, and significance. We can trust God to lovingly help us, give us grace, and enable us in the implementation of these wonderful spiritual disciplines. He is the keeper of our souls
