THE two SECRET LIVES

You are Alone

"Behold I stand at the door and knock…"

During COVID, people used (and overused) the phrase, "We're all in this together…". But in 2020, when my asthma and COVID combined to give me a horrible breathing experience, nobody knew what it was like to struggle like that in that way. And the same is true for you. The Shawn Mendes song claims, "I don't know what it's like to be you." Nobody knows what is going on in the secret life that you have. In his new book, This Exquisite Loneliness, Richard Deming defines loneliness as psychological isolation. Even the most connected people have to journey this life alone on the inside.  

The Secret Life

Jesus' claim is that He stands at the door and knocks.  

What is saying "Yes" to Jesus except saying "Yes" in the secret, inner world? 

Trusting the Lord is trusting Him and following Him into the universes in the inner life, the worlds that are within. I would propose that there are two stages to the secret life. First, we give Him access by opening all the doors, and second, we follow Him into the secret frontiers inside. Like Inception; the cities, valleys, mountains, and oceans that exist in your inner life.

Are there universes inside of you? In situations that are disappointing or frustrating or painful, how could you ever explain to anyone all the people and the history of the scene? It would take hours and maybe days. And, even so, no one could not fully understand.  

But giving Him your secret life is a trust that He (and really He alone) knows what it was like, and you open the doors of the secrets to Him and place them in His good hands.

Yes, help comes from without, but the journey is within. (As opposed to the New Age, postmodern idea that all your solutions are within you.). The help comes by allowing Jesus access to all of it.  

The secret life is:

1. Opening the doors. Giving Him all the secrets in prayer. Giving Him all the secret sins, hopes, fears, disappointments, and temptations.  

2. Following Him into the secret frontiers of the inner life. My old notion of following the Shepherd was following Him to Africa to be a missionary. But maybe there is another frontier we're supposed to follow: the secret inner frontiers.  

What is found by opening all of the doors into the secret life is beyond valuable. In saying "Yes" to Him in the inner life is unspeakable freedom and powerful communion. But it will be painful. He'll make you trade your old ideas for His new ones. And the farther along you go with Him into the secret frontiers, the more treacherous the journey gets. The communion is worth the secret journey.