The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.Who can understand it?  – Jeremiah 17:9

I came across this story the other day of a fairly new church building, only about ten years old.  One day a stain seemed to have appeared in the corner of the auditorium which puzzled the members.  It looked like the spot was getting wet, but there seemed to be no reason for it and they couldn’t figure out how.  They looked into to, studied it, searched for leaks, but nothing was found. Time passed and one Sunday after church the people noticed a strong stench coming from that corner. The probing became more urgent and more aggressive, but the inside wall looked fine as did the outside wall, in fact the vinyl siding on the outside look perfect. It was baffling. What could be wrong.

            On Monday morning the decision was made to rip off the siding, and there they found a rotten mess. A flaw in construction, 10 years before, had allowed rainwater to enter the wall.  What was hidden behind a beautiful veneer had slowly deteriorated until ten years later the decay finally came to light.

            In much the same way a person is capable of hiding sin for a long time. Without check, it can slowly worsen into something very destructive. The individual, however, may become so used to the sin that it no longer seems serious.  Or he may ignore it, hoping the problem will go away. Hidden sins like envy, bitterness, and anger can sometimes stay just under the “perfect vinyl siding” for months or even years, but eventually they cause “rottenness of the bones”(Proverbs 14:30). The results are as destructive as the rainwater in the church wall. Not only are they destructive to the persons trying to hide them, they can also hurt other people.

            If this inner rottenness of the soul stays hidden and in darkness, it will bring the soul into judgment. The covering ‘vinyl’ of bitterness and anger and other wrong attitudes, as well as any curtain that may be hiding any evil pleasures and ‘sins of the flesh,’ should be ripped open and confessed before God decides to intervene in judgment.  It’s only when we uncover our sins in humbleness and repentance that the blood of Jesus will be able to ‘purify us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness’(1 John 1:9) and to perform a complete renovation.