We Are Being Watched

The State Department of Education was at Dothan High School today observing various teachers. None of us knew just which teachers would be observed so we all had to be prepared. It is always a little unnerving when the "big bosses" come in for a visit. Most of us become a little more serious, pay a lot more attention, and double check to make sure we have all the i's dotted and all the t's crossed. It is kind of like when you are driving your car and a police officer gets behind you. All of a sudden, you become the world's best driver in an instant! Sometimes I wonder how many of us feel this same type of "pressure" on Sundays when we go to church. We get on our best clothes and our best behaviors. We become "Super Christian" on Sunday, but what do we do on Monday?

We know we can hide certain behaviors from some people, but we can never hide those from God. He is not only watching us 24/7, He is also right here walking along beside us. Judas the betrayer found that out very quickly. He managed to hide what was truly in his heart from everybody else, but he had no chance in trying to hide it from the Lord. Our hearts are completely transparent to the eyes of the Lord. He even knows the things that lurk in our hearts of which we may be totally unaware. Peter was a great example of this. Peter told Jesus that he loved Him so much that he was ready to "die for Him". But Jesus knew that in only a few, short hours, Peter would deny that he even knew the Lord...not once, but three times! I personally believe that Peter did not even know he was capable of denying Christ. But Christ knew everything that was in Peter's heart, and He knows everything that is in our hearts as well. If we can be a better driver every time we are being followed by a police officer, shouldn't we also become a "better" Christian by just knowing that God is with us?

Jeremiah 17:9-10 says, "The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives."

Father, forgive me for my wicked heart. Teach me to rely totally on You and less on my own heart. In Jesus' name, Amen.