Practicing Secrecy in an Age of InfluenceExemplo

Practicing Secrecy in an Age of Influence

We live in an age of influence. Daily, we follow the private lives of our favorite influencers, eagerly awaiting their next post. And all the while, we aspire to become just like them—hoping to ascend the ladder of influence in today's culture.

Ask the average young person what they want to be when they grow up, and you will get answers like a YouTuber or an influencer on TikTok or Instagram. For the young and old among us, social media has paved the way for anyone with access to the internet to be able to post about their private lives on the world's most public stage. Although typically an unconscious thought, the hope for many is that just one moment from their private life will "go viral," catapulting them into temporary celebrity status.

As followers of Jesus, how do we lean into God's call on our lives to advance His kingdom here on Earth while leveraging today's digital platforms? At the same time, how do we avoid falling into the pitfalls of boasting, selfish ambition, and glory-seeking that are so prevalent in our world today?

Thankfully, there is a practice from the Way of Jesus that can help us safely navigate the traps of today's “Look-at-me” culture. Enter the practice of secrecy.

Adele Ahlberg Calhoun described secrecy as "practicing the Spirit of Christ reflected in hiddenness, anonymity, lack of display and the holding of confidences." Richard Foster noted that when we practice secrecy, we "abstain from having our good deeds and qualities generally known." But perhaps the most helpful wisdom for us today comes to us from Dallas Willard, who wrote that "Secrecy rightly practiced enables us to place our public relations department entirely in the hands of God, who lit our candles so we could be the light of the world, not so we could hide under a bushel (Matthew 5:14-16). We allow him to decide when our deeds will be known and when our light will be noticed."

In the age of social media, where we all have access to our own little public relations department, what would it look like to let God decide "when our deeds" will be made known and when "our light will be noticed?"

Over the next few days, we will consider how practicing the discipline of secrecy can help us walk in humility, reflect God's glory to those around us, and resist the temptation to build our own kingdom here on Earth.