Did you know that someone is always watching you if you are in a public space? No, I’m not talking about stalkers or anyone creepy. I’m just talking about regular people whom you encounter in your daily life. If you say you are a Christian, then you are under a microscope because someone will always be watching for you to fall or to fail. That’s why the Bible exhorts us to be aware of being watched and to present ourselves like we want to be seen.

We have to make an extra effort (pains) to do what is right because the world wants us to make wrong choices so that they can say, “Ha! And you call yourself a Christian?!?” How do I know this? Because I have experienced it from both sides, both watching and being watched.

I’m a people watcher, not necessarily one who enters in easily, so I watch what others do instead. I listen to their words and see their actions and hope that if they are called by the name of Christ that it will all match up. Sometimes, I’m pleasantly surprised and other times I’m deeply disappointed. I have learned in my watching that not everyone who says that they are a Christian has any idea what that means. Many people think that they can go around and do the same things that they did before and not be accountable for it as long as they aren’t “caught.” Well, not only am I a people watcher, God is, too and He always sees everything that we do and hears every word that we speak. We may be having a bad day and be too demanding in the restaurant or at the check out counter. God hears, God sees and so do those around us. Bad days don’t mean that we get to take off the robe of righteousness that Jesus paid for and just be ourselves. We have to die to that self and always remember whom we are representing to the world. We destroy our testimony at the time and in the future if we are not always on the alert to how our actions and words can affect others. I am not saying not to be your genuine self, but what I am saying is to make sure that you have “put on Christ” before you go in public so that you are showing a lost world how they should be acting.

One of my pet peeves is seeing a bumper sticker all about being a Christian and then watching the driver speed recklessly around cars, cut others off in traffic or even do a one-finger salute to a fellow driver. I feel like following them and lecturing them about what a poor rep they are giving Christ. But I don’t. It is not my responsibility to police the world and their actions. I can only be responsible for my own actions and hope that what I am doing is a good testimony to the power of Christ in my life.

Being aware of being watched is half the battle. Look around you. See the other people? They are just human like you and many of them need the hope that you have inside you. They want you to be different, to speak differently (more kindly) and to act differently (with love), and when you don’t, you aren’t just letting God down but you are letting them down, too. Why become a Christian if you aren’t any different than the rest of the selfish and egocentric world? The answer lies in your actions and your words. Be a Christian, 24-7. That’s what the world needs and what God expects.

May your day be filled with blessings and opportunities to show others Christ inside of you so that others will want what you have!