Before any of us existed, God spoke light into the darkness. The book of Genesis tells us that God saw the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness (Genesis 1:1-5). That separation was made before you and I were created. Light was called light, and darkness was called darkness. They were not meant to be confused.
This is also a spiritual truth. Light represents what is good, and darkness represents what is evil. God has already made the distinction. What God calls good, we cannot call evil. What God calls evil, we cannot call good. Isaiah warns those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness (Isaiah 5:20).
One of the greatest crises in the world today is the loss of the sense of sin. People may refuse to acknowledge that sin exists, or they may know it exists but pretend not to recognise it in their own lives. We whitewash sin, pamper it, make friends with it and take it for granted. Then the boundary God established between light and darkness becomes blurred in our minds.
If we want a genuine relationship with the Lord, sin must be recognised, avoided and atoned for. We cannot come before God while insisting that darkness is light. We must allow Him to show us what is really within us.
Only God Can Show Us What Is in the Heart
I once met a woman during a retreat who refused to go to Confession. The volunteers told me that everyone else had gone for reconciliation, but she would not. When I spoke to her, she said, “They went to Confession because they have committed sins. I cannot find any sin in me.”
I asked how long it had been since her last Confession. She said it had been about eighteen months. After a year and a half, she could not identify a single sin. This is not an isolated case. We can look at ourselves through our own eyes and find very little wrong. We can look at the world around us and decide that everything is normal. It is only when we look toward the Lord that we begin to see clearly.
Peter experienced this after the miraculous catch of fish. When he came face to face with the power and holiness of Jesus, he fell before Him and said, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man” (Luke 5:8). Isaiah saw the glory and holiness of God and immediately became aware of his own condition: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5). Zacchaeus encountered Jesus, recognised what had gone wrong in his life and offered to make restitution (Luke 19:1-10).
These people did not discover their sin merely by examining themselves according to their own standards. They saw themselves in the presence of God. When the light of God enters the heart, what was hidden becomes visible.
The church at Laodicea had the opposite problem. They said, “I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.” But the Lord told them that they did not realise they were wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked (Revelation 3:17). Their assessment of themselves was very different from God’s assessment.
We can make the same mistake. We may say, “I go to church. I belong to a prayer group. I lead prayers. I give money. I have brought up my children in the faith. People respect me.” All these things may be good, but they do not by themselves prove that everything within the heart is right.
Proverbs says, “All one’s ways may be pure in one’s own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit” (Proverbs 16:2). God searches minds and hearts (Revelation 2:23). He does not examine only what other people can see. He searches the motives, thoughts, desires and hidden decisions of the heart.
The story of Belshazzar gives us a serious image of this judgment. During the king’s feast, a hand appeared and wrote upon the wall. Daniel interpreted the words: “You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting” (Daniel 5:27). The king had been measured, not according to his own importance or the praise of those around him, but according to the judgment of God.
That is a question for every one of us. If the Lord weighs my heart today, what will He find? Religious activity does not remove the need for this examination. I may attend retreats, Healing Masses and prayer meetings, yet still be found wanting when God weighs the heart.
The proper prayer is not, “Lord, show me what is wrong with everybody else.” It is, “Lord Jesus, weigh my heart. Search my innermost thoughts. Show me what I cannot see by myself.”
What Should I Do?
Whenever the Word of God is truly heard, it should produce a question in us. When John the Baptist preached repentance, the crowds asked, “What then should we do?” (Luke 3:10). When Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, the people were cut to the heart and asked, “Brothers, what should we do?” (Acts 2:37). When the jailer heard the Gospel from Paul and Silas, he asked, “What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30).
The same question appears again and again because the Word of God is not given merely to increase our information. It asks for a response. Each time I hear the Word, I must ask the Lord personally, “What should I do? What must change in me? What are You asking of my family and me?”
The answer may not be identical in every circumstance, but it will always require faith and obedience. John called the people to repentance. Peter told them to repent and be baptised. Paul told the jailer to believe in the Lord Jesus. When we sincerely ask the Lord what we must do, He gives an answer. Then we must do accordingly.
One clear answer is found in Ephesians 4:30: “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption.”
We often ask for a list of sins. We want categories, degrees and classifications. But many of us already know far more than we obey. The central question is whether the way we live grieves the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.
The Holy Spirit is not an idea or a distant force. Through Baptism, God has given us His Spirit. The Spirit remains with us as friend, companion and witness. He is present in our prayers and in our acts of love, but He is also present when we choose pride, dishonesty, impurity, resentment or disobedience.
Jeremiah speaks of a soul weeping in secret because the people refuse to listen and persist in pride (Jeremiah 13:17). It is a painful image of how the Holy Spirit can grieve within us. Every time we refuse to listen to the Lord, every time we know His will and choose another way, the Holy Spirit is wounded by our refusal.
This should change the way we think about hidden sin. We may imagine that no one saw what happened. We may believe that God has closed His eyes to one particular area of our lives. But the Spirit of God within us is a witness.
The Spirit of God Is a Witness
The story of Gehazi shows how easily we deceive ourselves when we believe our actions are hidden. Naaman was healed of leprosy through the ministry of Elisha. In gratitude, he offered the prophet a reward, but Elisha refused it. Gehazi, Elisha’s servant, secretly ran after Naaman and falsely claimed that his master had sent him to ask for silver and clothing.
When Gehazi returned, Elisha asked where he had been. Gehazi lied and said that he had gone nowhere. Elisha answered, “Did I not go with you in spirit when someone left his chariot to meet you?” (2 Kings 5:26). Gehazi had acted secretly, but he had not acted unseen.
Wisdom 1:6-7 tells us that God is a witness of our inmost feelings, a true observer of our hearts and a hearer of our tongues. The Spirit of the Lord fills the world. There is no room, journey, conversation or private decision from which God is absent.
He hears the words we speak when no one else is present. He hears complaints, gossip, judgments and cruel words. He sees the resentment we preserve, the dishonesty we excuse and the relationships we damage. He knows the difference between what we present publicly and what we choose privately.
This is not said merely to make us afraid. It is also the truth that makes repentance possible. God sees what is hidden, but He reveals it so that it can be healed. The One who searches the heart is the same Lord who calls us back to Himself.
When Jesus approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it (Luke 19:41). He did not merely see the buildings, roads and outward activity. He saw what was happening in the lives of the people. He saw their unfaithfulness and the peace they were refusing, and He wept.
When the Lord looks at me, what does He see? Does He rejoice over the response I have made to His grace, or does He weep over the things I continue to defend? He sees many things that I fail to see and understands what I may refuse to understand.
Ezekiel 22 presents a searching examination of a city. The prophet names bloodshed, contempt for parents, mistreatment of strangers, injustice toward orphans and widows, disregard for holy things, slander, idolatry, sexual sin, bribery, greed and extortion. The list ends with the Lord saying, “You have forgotten me” (Ezekiel 22:12).
That final statement explains the deeper problem. Sin is not only the breaking of an isolated rule. It is a forgetting of God. When we place selfishness, pleasure, wealth, fear or public opinion above His Word, we live as though He were absent.
We should therefore examine the ordinary areas of life. How do we speak about others? Have our words created division in a family, marriage, friendship or faith community? Do we honour our parents, or do we treat them as a burden when they become old or dependent? Do we remember the poor, the stranger, the widow and the vulnerable? Do we honour the Lord’s Day, or has Sunday become no different from every other day?
We must also ask where we seek guidance. A Christian cannot turn to psychics, mediums, astrology, numerology or superstition as though these could be combined with faith in God. When difficulties come, we consult the Lord. We do not search for another spiritual power to tell us our future or solve our problems.
Marriage and sexuality must also be brought under the light of God’s Word. Hebrews says, “Let marriage be held in honour by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled” (Hebrews 13:4). We should not treat marriage lightly or use the threat of separation as a weapon against one another. I am not speaking as though every person whose marriage has ended carries the same responsibility. Some people suffer a separation or divorce that they did not choose. The warning is against becoming casual about covenant, faithfulness and the responsibilities God has entrusted to us.
In every area, the criterion is not what I say or what the culture says. The criterion is what God says. He has already separated light from darkness. If He calls something good, it is good. If He calls something evil, I cannot make it good by giving it a different name.
Confess, Forsake and Be Transformed
The purpose of this examination is not despair. The Lord exposes sin so that we may repent and renounce it. Proverbs 28:13 says, “No one who conceals transgressions will prosper, but one who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.”
There are two parts in that promise. We confess, and we forsake. Confession without the willingness to leave sin behind becomes another way of avoiding change. Forsaking sin without admitting it honestly is also impossible. The Lord asks us to bring the truth into the light and receive His mercy.
This is why we must not call evil good. Once we rename sin, we no longer believe we need mercy. Once we justify everything according to the practices of the world, repentance begins to look unnecessary. But the Word tells us not to be conformed to this world. We are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds so that we may discern the will of God, what is good, acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:2).
Conformity often happens without our realising it. We may have been brought up as practising Catholics, but as we absorb the assumptions of the culture around us, we can slowly exchange the values of the Gospel for the values of the world. We begin to think that whatever is common must be acceptable. We forget that the majority does not determine what is light and what is darkness.
So allow the Lord to search your heart. Do not defend what He reveals. Do not point first to the faults of another person. Ask Him, “Lord, what should I do?” If He shows you pride, confess it. If He shows you dishonesty, renounce it. If He shows you a relationship that needs healing, take the step He asks you to take. If He shows you a practice that grieves the Holy Spirit, leave it behind.
Let the separation God made in the beginning also take place within us. Let light remain light and darkness remain darkness. Let what is good be received as good, and let what is evil be rejected as evil.
The prayer of the heart should be simple: “Lord Jesus, search me. Weigh my heart. Show me where I have called darkness light or evil good. Give me the courage to ask what I must do and the grace to obey Your answer. Do not let me grieve Your Holy Spirit. Help me to confess and forsake my sin, receive Your mercy and be transformed by the renewing of my mind.”