Observation

Believers are always on display and people are watching to see if what you say lines up with the way you live.  There are those that are on your side cheering you on, watching your progress and praying that you will be a living testimony to the Lord, that others will see your good works and glorify your heavenly Father.  Then there are others that want you to fail so that they can say, “I told you that you would not make it.”

Hebrews 12:1 says this, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”

I have heard this taught that people are looking down on us from heaven and watching us, but I think this is saying that the saints written about in Hebrews 11, which is referred to as the faith chapter, left us their witness which should be an encouragement to all of us and should spur us on in our faith to live godly in this lost and dying world.  They overcame and left a faithful witness that we are encouraged to follow and we are encompassed about by their witness.  Did you ever think that you are on display for everyone to observe, whether they are for you or against you and many are looking for you to fail?

This reminds me of a time, many years ago, when I lived in Galveston, Texas where one of the responsibilities I had was to ride the killer whale in Sea-Arama Marineworld.  The first time I was to ride I wasn’t told anything about how to ride except maybe to step on his back and get down and sit.  The reason why I wasn’t instructed on how to hang on or what to expect, in my opinion, was that they wanted me to fall off, then get scared, so that everyone could laugh at me while I was dangling in 18 foot of water with a whale that weighed 5200 pounds and was 18 feet long, so I was told, wondering if the whale would come around and pick me up or just eat me up.  Because that was my first ride, I was scared right from the time I was supposed to get on the whale until I fell off about half way around, then you might say I was beyond scared, but, thank the Lord the whale came around and stopped in front of me under the water so I could get on and get back safely.

The reason I told you this story was because there were hundreds of people watching, with their eyes on me and probably most of them were laughing at me because of my dethronement, you might say.  The same thing is happening every day to believers when they mess up, make mistakes or fall into sin.  You may be shocked at some of the people that hope you fail in your faith so that you will give up.  There may be close friends and even family members that want you to fail in your faith.

Jesus said this in Matthew 10:34-36, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’”

There will always be those that will be offended by your testimony, just like they were offended by Jesus’ testimony in His day.  There may be some in your congregation that may stand against you, so don’t be shocked if it happens, it happened also to Jesus in the temple in His day. You will never be able to make everyone love you or agree with you, but you can pray for them and love them, but even that may not be enough to bring them around.  The main thing is to never give up so when people observe you, they see a living testimony of God’s amazing, saving grace.  I hope this has been an encouragement to you and has given you some positive insight and something useful to think about.  May the good Lord bless you and yours and may your day be a blessing to you and others!!