You Are Being Watched

In the old Looney Tunes cartoons, a statement occasionally made by Bugs Bunny was: “Did you ever have the feeling you was being watched?” The truth is God is always aware of what we’re doing. Jesus said in Matthew 10:26, “For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.” 

I once heard Dennis Burke say, “God keeps the books.” Proverbs 15:3 says, “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.” Fortunately, our mistakes can be washed away by the blood of Jesus if we ask for forgiveness (1 John 1:9). Still, Christians need to remember that nonbelievers watch professing believers like a hawk. A major slip-up can damage one’s testimony. Recently, I read a story online that illustrates this truth: 

A man was being tailgated by a woman on a busy boulevard. Suddenly, the light in front of him turned yellow. He stopped at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection. 

The tailgating woman was furious and honked her horn, screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection. As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window. A police officer ordered the woman to get out of the car with her hands up. He took her to the police station where she was searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a holding cell. After a couple of hours, she was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal items. 

The officer said, “I’m very sorry for this mistake. I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you, and cussing at him. I noticed the ‘What Would Jesus Do’ bumper sticker, the ‘Choose Life’ license plate holder, the ‘Follow Me to Sunday School’ bumper sticker, and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk. I assumed you had stolen the car.”


In his teaching “A Fit of Carnality”, Jesse Duplantis talked about the time he got extremely angry with his wife Cathy because she resisted helping him while he tried fixing a broken pipe underneath their house. The evangelist climbed out ready to unload on Cathy when he was greeted by his unsaved neighbor. Jesse felt embarrassed because he had been witnessing to this man. As Jesse points out, “Every time you have a fit of carnality, you can take it to the bank there’s going to be somebody seeing you do it.”


We all miss it from time to time, but should still aim to become more Christlike. 2 Timothy 2:19 says, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” While evangelizing, I sometimes encounter people who aren’t open to the gospel because of sinful actions by a professing believer. When televangelist Jim Bakker fell in 1987, I wasn’t living for the Lord then. My hearing about it in the news gave me a more negative impression of Christianity. Fortunately, I found the Lord four years later. Jim Bakker has since been restored.


In 1995, DC Talk recorded a song titled, “What If I Stumble.” It begins with this quote from Brennan Manning, “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips then walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.” Sadly, lead singer Michael Tait (who went on to join the Newsboys) stumbled into sins that got exposed earlier this year. His name is no longer mentioned on the DC Talk website. I pray Michael gets restored as well.


Let’s always aim to be good witnesses for Him. Even when we’re alone, God is watching. 


“Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.” - Luke 12:2-3 (ESV)

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