“The Lord is the friend of those who obey him and he affirms his covenant with them.” (Psalm 25:14 TEV).
“Friendship with God is reserved for those who reverence him. With them alone he shares the secrets of his promises.” (TLB).
I am convinced that we have inadvertently made Christianity much more difficult than it really is. One of the major threats to the early church was a heresy known as gnosticism. The Gnostics (the word means “to know”), taught that they possessed the secret knowledge of God and if you would commit yourself to their path you would be let in on these secrets. While the early church recognized and rejected the teachings of the Gnostics (John stated clearly that their teachings were not of Christ but of the anti-Christ in 1 John 4:1 and verses following), still the “deeper meaning” and “hidden secrets” movements have plagued Christianity down through the centuries, moving from Gnosticism to mysticism to the inner light movement of the Puritans and the “second blessing” of modern Pentecostalism.
We always seem to be on the lookout from some secret or some experience that will suddenly catapult us to a higher level of belief. So, with that realization in mind, let me tell you what that secret is. The secret to the deeper Christian life, to the hidden promises is that there is no secret. God has told us who He shares His “secrets” with, it is those who simply walk with Him in daily obedience. There are no chair-lifts up the mountain of spirituality, just a long walk up the pathway of obedience.
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