Has anyone ever asked if you’ve done something nobody knows about? Or, asked if you’ve had something done to you no-one knows about?

It’s not like everyone has a dark secret. At least, not that dark or deeply hidden. But lots of us do.  And few things trigger fear more than a question that threatens to expose it. Our hidden inner-self fears rejection, or something worse, if the truth about us is found out. And so when someone asks one or both of those questions, we cover-up, just like we’ve done for years.

Within the walls of the cover-up live a victim and two villains. We are the victim injured by a villain and the villain who injured an innocent. We refuse to forgive the villain who victimized us while withholding forgiveness from ourselves.

The power of each character would be broken if we would forgive the person who hurt us and then forgive ourselves. Yet, we may hold to the lie that says we can’t. The lie that says he or she hurt me too deeply. The lie that says I’ve done something too horrible or too often.

But Jesus said we’re to forgive as we’ve been forgiven by God. He said we’re to forgive as often as we’ve been wronged. Anything else is a lie that protects a dark secret. (Luke 21:21-35; Luke 17:3b-5).