Monday, 17 June 2013

‘I spy with my little eye . . .’


Who is watching and listening? Whether it be GCHQ or other organizations intent on maintaining national security, it has been interesting to watch and read the stories of covert surveillance. It seems our emails, our text messages, our tweets, and other modes of electronic communication are all a lot more open than perhaps we have thought. Perhaps that is a frightening thought. How much of what we say and do is private anymore? How much of our daily life is being observed by CCTV?


Some might argue that in the interests of the safety of us all that is a small price to pay. If we are law-abiding citizens, what have we to fear? Others, concerned about civil liberties, might argue that this observation is obtrusive and unnecessary.


All this made me think of a verse from the Bible: ‘Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do’. There is a surveillance system far more sophisticated than anything that man has invented. God is watching and recording our lives. He is taking stock of what we say and what we do. What might escape the observation of men and women will not escape the eye of God. One day we will be held to account! That is frightening!


However, there is an opportunity to remove that burden of guilt. What we have done can be forgiven and its stain removed. God is able and willing to forgive us our sin and guilt. Sit down and count up what a mass of things we each need to be forgiven for. Yet, through the death of God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, we can find forgiveness. If we are prepared to accept that He died for our sin, my sin to make it personal, then we can be forgiven. Either we bear the consequences of our own deeds, or we accept Christ as our sin-bearer. What is your choice?