What are you like when no one is looking? Perhaps when you are alone on a business trip, or on extended travels among strangers, do you behave the same as when you are among friends who are watching, or people who look up to you?

What if every thought that entered your head were to be broadcast on the evening news?

If God were to “pop in” on you unannounced anytime, anywhere, day or night, would He feel right at home or, would you have a lot of “’splainin” to do?

Christian, you are never truly alone … ever. Hebrews 12:1 reminds us, “… since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us …”

Those witnesses are the saints that have gone before us and are now in glory with God. They are watching us, cheering us on, like fans at a football game, rooting us on to make them proud of the “home team.”

According to Ephesians 6:12, that “cloud” of spectators also includes “the rulers … the powers … the world forces of this darkness … the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

They are also in the stands screaming support for the opposing team trying to bring you down.

In fact, your life is not a game, and the stakes are high (the glory of God), and the bullets are real.

What’s the Score?

So, what’s the score in your life? Do you want to become a star player on God’s team? Hebrews 12:2 to exhort “… let’s rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

The Devil doesn’t have to try very hard to bring us down. He just needs to break our concentration and distract our attention with his myriad temptations.

And, bingo, there goes our focus upon our goal, which is Christ Himself. The power of our single-minded focus dissipates like a puff of smoke.

Those Pesky Secrets

It has been said that our spiritual “health” is inversely proportional to the number of our secrets. And those sneaky little secrets are not benign little playthings, but deadly competitors to the life of God in our lives, as noted in Romans 2:15-17:

“… in that they (the Gentiles) show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of mankind through Christ Jesus.”

Here’s a sobering thought, from Mark 4:22: “For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light.”

Our secret thoughts are going to eventually hit the evening news in Heaven. Sorry.

The Greatest Test

In my decade of working with drug and alcohol addicts, I learned quickly how skilled many of them were at “playing to the audience.”

If I asked them a question, their answer was carefully calibrated to what they thought I wanted to hear, to what I was expecting from them.

It was all a show, and as soon as I left, they reverted to who they were all along.

We can be that way with God, or to our Christian friends, tailoring our appearance and speech to our surroundings, Sunday “go-to-meeting” style.

Then we revert to who we really are in the parking lot as we leave the church.

In Matthew 6:5-7, Jesus warned against such a compartmentalized life: “And when you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they will be seen by people. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But as for you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”

Integrity is about transparency in all situations.

How About You?

We’re not here to be people pleasers but, as written in 1 Thessalonians 2:4, “… just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not intending to please people, but to please God, who examines our hearts.”

We’re not talking perfection here. The key is our trend line over time. If you focus on pleasing God, people will receive the overflow from your life and be blessed.