Sin may be secret, but it’s never private. It will either come out now, here on earth, or at Judgment Day, but it’s going to be known.

Numbers 32:23 is one of the scariest verses in the Bible: “You may be sure that your sin will find you out” (NIV).

Another reason why sin is never private is because everything you do, good or bad, affects other people—even if they don’t know what’s going on.

If someone close to you stayed up all night doing some really immoral things and then saw you in the morning, you would notice something was off. You might not know what happened, but the result of their sin would be obvious in the way they behaved. Very few people could act as if nothing happened.

It doesn’t even have to be some big sin you commit. It could be the sin of omission. If you have a regular quiet time with God and then go a few days without spending time in God’s presence, there’s probably going to be a difference in how you react to people and circumstances. That’s because when you’re not plugged in, you don’t have spiritual power to fight sin.

The Bible says in Romans 14:7, “None of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone” (NIV).

A lot of people will say, “What I do with my life is no one else’s business. As long as I’m not hurting anybody, why should anyone else care?” But you are hurting other people. God made us to be connected people, and what we do and say always has an effect on others.

Sin affects you in ways you don’t even realize, and then your actions affect others. When you sin, it cuts you off from God’s power and keeps you from your potential. It limits the good you can do and the impact you can have.

Isn’t it sad to think of what you and others are missing when you’re not at your God-given best? There is only one way to move past the sin that holds you back and hurts others: Confess it.