He was coming over to the house after work. We had scheduled an appointment to have a couple of minor household repairs done. The day before the appointment, I realized my house wasn’t in order. My house wasn’t ready to be seen by someone who didn’t live there. I needed to make it presentable. I needed to clean up and put things away.
So I started cleaning. Straightening up the areas the man would walk by in order to get to the repairs. I didn’t want him to see the clutter. The stacks of papers I hadn’t gotten around to filing or tossing. I didn’t want him to see how we really lived. I cleaned up the island cluttered with mail. Why do we keep piles of unread mail on it, anyway? Why don’t we keep the house straightened up? Just in case someone would stop by at a moment’s notice? Why don’t I live prepared for unexpected guests?
You may be sure that your sin will find you out. Numbers 32:23
We reconfigured the cubicles at work. The problem workers are now seated where their computer monitors are in full view of passersby. They don’t know it, but rumor has it that they’re being watched. They’re frantically trying to position their monitors so they’re out of view. They’re profusely and loudly complaining about their newly assigned seats. I want to tell them that if they’re only displaying work on their monitors, there’s no need to be concerned. If they’re doing nothing wrong, why are they acting so guilty?
They’ve got to realize that our employer is in the business of watching. We help companies protect their information. So why do my coworkers think they should be above the law? Why do they not realize their every move is monitored? Why don’t they remember that we have experts in our office who hack into other websites for a living? And they do it legally and ethically to help our clients. But these coworkers of mine are doing things openly, yet they think they’re flying under the radar. Don’t they realize it’s not just what can be seen on their monitors that’s being watched? It’s also the contents behind the scenes that are being recorded.
For all that is secret will eventually be brought into the open, and everything that is concealed will be brought to light and made known to all. Luke 8:17
There is someone else. He didn’t know his world was about to come crashing down. But when the doorbell rang that morning, he was arrested for obscene behavior. Taken to jail in his pajamas. Oh. He made the news that morning. His job was usually to provide the news. But now he is the news.
He is well known. well liked. trusted. For thirty plus years, he has been a public voice in the community. His world was turned upside down when he opened the front door that morning. Now he’s no longer employed. His career is ruined. No one knew the secret he was hiding. or did they? Was someone shielding him? Who turned him in? How was his private life discovered?
And in one moment, everything changed for this man. Oh. Things had already changed for him some time ago. Things began to change when he make a conscious choice to do wrong. Hoping he wouldn’t be discovered.
Do we all have a private life waiting to be discovered? good? bad? ugly? What will we find when we open the front door? What does our browser history show? What messes are hiding behind our closet doors? Are we ready to face the piper? Are we ready to stand in judgment? On a moment’s notice?
Your sins will find you out. You won’t get away with it. There will be justice. In this life or the next. Or both.
–Jared C. Wilson
Sin is like cancer. It starts small with a bad attitude. Or a sharp word. A poor decision. It slowly builds to another bad decision that over time becomes commonplace. A bad attitude becomes a burnt bridge where there’s no return. A sharp word turns into gossip or lies that grow out of control until false words are accepted as truth.
You can fool all the people some of the time. You can fool some of the people all the time. But you can’t fool all the people all the time. And you can’t fool God. Ever.
God knows and sees everything all the time.
Mercy for the Day 