Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
At my house we have several traditions in preparation for the Christmas celebration. One of those is to light the advent wreath in expectation of Jesus – “the Light of the world” – coming into the world and our lives. A much sillier tradition is that we have a little elf, who we have named Jeffrey, who visits us and watches my kids and reports back to Santa. It is amazing the difference in their behavior when the elf is present. I was somewhat flummoxed by this at first, as I felt they should be on their best behavior at all times anyway. But I have gradually learned to appreciate the moral effect that our elf Jeffrey brings to the household.
The truth is that we adults are just the same as my children; all of us behave better if we know that we are under observation. It is ironic then that we, as Christians, profess that we live under the observing eye of God, yet we behave at times as if this were not the case. The Bible tells us “From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind; from His dwelling place He watches all who live on earth— He who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do.” (Psalm 33:13-15). The story of King David is instructive for us in this regard: although he was a “man after God’s own heart,” David forgot that he was under the authority of God and strayed from God and committed adultery, had a good man killed and deceived his people about it. As the King of Israel, he believed that he was immune from observation of the people. However, the prophet Nathan came and revealed to David that he could not hide his deeds from God and so, confronted with the truth, David repented and asked for forgiveness. We can learn much from this story of David’s struggling with sin and receiving grace, but today I hope we can remember that whatever we do in every minute of our lives, we do it unto the Lord. As Jesus said, “There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.” (Luke 12:2-3). We don’t need an elf to remind us to be moral, just and righteous this Christmas season. Selah.
Steve