Big Father

(EXCITING NEWS: Have you heard our radio programme on PREMIER RADIO yet? You can hear past episodes here.)

Life in London is like experiencing the Big Brother house, without the certainty of an eventual escape into freedom. CCTV cameras follow us everywhere, all communications are monitored in one way or another and all of our transactions are electronically traced. It is sold to us under the pretext of the war against terror. It has instead provided us with an edgy existence, with freedoms leaking away at an ever-increasing rate and hard-won personal liberties slyly chipped away while we are not looking. The people watching and monitoring you and me are ordinary folk like you and me, servants of the state, who are probably themselves closely monitored by another level of public servants. And so it goes on, a self-feeding mechanism guided by no absolute moral or ethical code save that of the ends justifying the means.

Thank goodness we have a Big Father who does similarly, but with very different objectives in mind.

Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!(Luke 12:24)

To the State we are a social security number, to banks we are an account number, to Inland Revenue a tax reference number, but God incredibly sees us as individuals, valuable and important to Him. To the State we are worker ants, to God we are all Queen Bees.

There’s another difference. We only come to the attention of the State when we become a statistic, when a parent fills out a birth certificate. God has known us a bit longer than that.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. (Psalm 139:13-16)

He knew when we would be born and He already knows when we’re going to die. What happens between those points is up to us, but He’s still very much involved.

Question: If we Christians know that God constantly watches over us, why do we still act as if He doesn’t?

Jonah and Adam thought they could hide from God’s presence, but that same Psalm tells us otherwise.

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. (Psalm 139:7-10)

Let’s face it, our dealings with God are usually on our terms, from our own perspective of living from day to day.

Having said that, let’s review what we learned in the last few articles about the two mindsets. The Greek mindset puts man at the centre of things, the Hebraic mindset puts God there. So, where have we laid our hats? Where have you laid your hat?

If God is always at the centre of our thinking then all of our thoughts and actions should be designed to please Him. This includes our thoughts and actions when others aren’t looking, our thoughts and actions when we are outside human radar, when we are lying in our beds, when we are feeding our minds and spirits with questionable material from our TVs, radios, mp3s and computers. There is no toggle switch between the Holy Spirit and our own, the connection is only impaired when we have clogged things up. How can you be sure that God is pleased with the data stream that is your daily life?

But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love … (Psalm 33:18)

For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him … (2 Chronicles 16:9)

If we Christians know that God constantly watches over us, why do we still act as if He doesn’t?