The God Series: The Power of the HIDDEN

When last did you do something hidden?

Do you know the power of the hidden, in the eyes of God? I decided to create this series, called ‘The God Series’ as a simple encouragement to myself, and others who choose to join me (and this is your invitation, so please do! :)), to live more like Christ. I’ll be looking at a different aspect of living like Christ for each post.

This one is about doing ‘hidden’ things.

I’m purposely writing this because, in the era of social media over-sharing, reality TV filled with just TOO-MUCH-INFORMATION! (Jordan, hello! I really don’t want to know about your sessions in therapy!), there are huge temptations facing us all to display our every activity, every accomplishment and every exciting experience as publicly as possible.

Hey, we’ve all done it. Nothing wrong with it as such – we all connect with people over shared experiences and it’s great to share experiences with loved ones who couldn’t be with us at the time – and social media is an effective way to do that – but sometimes I think that in doing so,we’ve forgotten the power of also doing what is ‘hidden’.

Did you know that God LOVES it when we do GOOD THINGS that are hidden from others?

For instance, the bible says that when you give, don’t let the right hand know what the left hand is doing – in other words, as much as you can, DO IT IN SECRET! (Matt 6:3,4)

Same with when you pray. When you pray (especially for others), the bible encourages us to “go into our prayer closet and pray in secret to our Father” (Matt 6:6).

The great thing about doing these hidden things is that there’s promise of a reward – pretty cool huh? Because you see, even though no-one else may know about it, God notices everything we do. And he especially rewards those things we do that are hidden.

Did you know also, that in God’s economy, the hidden is very precious? Proverbs says that it is to God’s glory to hide treasure (aka God’s truths), and to our glory to seek it out. Gems, considered extremely valuable, have to be mined and discovered – they aren’t just lying around on the surface of the earth for anyone to pick up! Oh no, they need work and skill and tools to find them. The more precious something is, the harder it is to obtain without searching and strenuous effort.

The Kingdom of God (God’s way of doing this), is so precious that it’s compared to treasure hidden in a field. Treasure so valuable that it’s worth selling all that you have in order to obtain it (Matt 13:45). And yet it’s hidden!

We are ‘hidden’ in Christ (Col 3:3). Know what that means? Yep, it means we’re very very precious.

This even applies to the Body of Christ. 1 Corinthians 12 explains how it’s the hidden parts of the Body (referred to as ‘unpresentable’) that are considered to be the parts that should be treated with the most care and honour. They need special treatment. And they are vital functions, much like with a natural body, where our organs such as our heart and brain, which are both hidden parts, are more vital than a hand or a leg.

I have found in my walk with God that it is in the hidden places that He has done His deepest work in my life. It’s at the times when I’m least noticed, least regarded and least recognised that He’s doing His best work in me, the stuff of character. It’s the wonder of the upside down gospel!

Eternal rewards are to be found from our hidden obedience. The things that you do for God when no one else is looking are those things that you’ll be richly rewarded for in heaven. Those are also the things that prove your faithfulness and squeeze out your every wrong motive.

Don’t avoid the hidden. There is much benefit from what we do that is hidden. Embrace it and treasure it. It has a precious purpose.

Don’t stop sharing your funny, exciting and proud moments with friends and family via the incredible tool of the internet – but take a moment to ask God what He wants to remain hidden. And don’t fear that your love for people is going unnoticed – ALL will be revealed on that great day when we meet Him and spend eternity with Him and each other.

So today, in your desire to live like Christ instead of like the rest of the world, I want to issue you a challenge or 2. How about this?! :

1. Pray for someone other than you or close family members or friends. Pray in secret for them. Don’t ever let them know that you prayed for them today.
2. Give anonymously to someone – it doesn’t have to be a large amount or gift (although it can be) – but it must be in secret.

Go on, you’ll be so blessed by it! And may we continue to seek to live like Christ 🙂