“Perfect valor is to behave, without witnesses, as one would act were all the world watching.”
-Francois, duc de La Rochefoucauld, moralist (1613-1680)

Two shows that I seem to watch frequently are both investigation shows: NCIS and CSI. Sorry for the acronyms. Common to both of those shows are the frequent interrogations that go on of possible suspects. And every time there is an interrogation the producers of these shows switch back and forth from inside the room and to the people watching from the outside. The people outside are usually critiquing the interrogator more then watching the suspect… but they are watching. And often even the suspect knows that they are being watched. Afterall, they’ve watched TV, they know the drill. Wait, it is TV. What a quandary.

At the core of many of these interrogations is the question as to whether the people inside the window act differently because they know they are being watched. Do they act differently depending on who is asking the questions and whether there are others present and watching? Do they care?

For me, the question I need to ask myself is would I act differently knowing the whole world was watching versus if I knew God was watching? Only one of those matters. Only one of those is true.

Here is a sobering realization: God is watching, but he isn’t watching from above. From a distance. He is standing right beside me. How does that change things?

Each of us, everyday, is on that road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). How do we allow the living God to interact with us? Not just allow Him to watch, but to do so much more in our lives?