{"id":511,"date":"2023-12-03T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-03T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/?p=511"},"modified":"2024-01-15T09:19:48","modified_gmt":"2024-01-15T15:19:48","slug":"whos-watching-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/whos-watching-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Who’s Watching You?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s the time of year that I remember that I usually got threatened with the thought that Santa Claus was watching. For a kid that didn\u2019t get many toys through the year growing up, this was quite the deterrent for bad behavior for at least a couple of months out of the year. I wanted to make sure that December 25 would bring some much coveted toys that I had spotted, circled, and page marked in the JC Penney & Sears catalogs. The rumor was that Santa could see everything so that gave a little extra push to do the right thing all the time. There is a statement that Paul makes at the end of the Colossians 3 to ultimately remind Christians who it is that we are trying to please\u2014and it isn\u2019t Santa Claus. He is speaking to the bondservants. Some translations say slaves. There were various ways that people became slaves during the Roman period of time in which these words were written. In the end, regardless of how they got there they were still servants and had masters who had the last say on their workload and treatment. The temptation would be to believe they were working to please their masters. In fact, that is exactly how he begins: \u201cBondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters\u2026\u201d (3:22<\/a>). Similarly today, we may be tempted to believe that our secular work is done simply to please our bosses, supervisors, board of directors, or other people who are somewhere above us. The first part of the statement that Paul makes might tempt us to believe that \u201cthe buck stops\u201d with the earthly masters, bosses, teachers, etc. But as we read beyond we will notice that there is much more to it than that: \u201c\u2026not by way of eye-service, as people pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ\u201d (3:22-24<\/a>). Did you notice how many times he reminds us that what we are doing is not for the people around us\u2014the ones that we can give \u201ceye-service\u201d to. Do it because you \u201cfear the Lord\u201d or respect Him as your Master. We work hard, going above and beyond, because all that we do is ultimately for the Lord. He is the One that hands out rewards on the last day. He is ultimately the Master of all and the one that we will all answer to at some point. He clearly states the truth: \u201cYou are serving the Lord Christ\u201d (24<\/a>). Let me be clear. God is not watching over us with the intent to catch us in doing evil. He is not a cosmic police officer hoping to find us in the wrong. In fact, He sent His Son so that we can all be cleansed and so that we could be presented holy and blameless before Him one day (Ephesians 5:27<\/a>). His Spirit is working even today and producing the wonderful fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23<\/a>). And that is what He is really looking for. He is looking down proudly as a Father longing to see His children serving their Lord Jesus. Will He find us doing with all our might the work He set before us? The thing that is waiting for us in the morning of joy\u2014the great resurrection morning\u2014is way better than anything the JC Penney or Sears catalogs could help us envision as kids. So circle and page mark Colossians 3:22-24<\/a>. It provides some much needed motivation to live like Jesus. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s the time of year that I remember that I usually got threatened with the thought that Santa Claus was watching. For a kid that didn\u2019t get many toys through the year growing up, this was quite the deterrent for bad behavior for at least a couple of months out of the year. I wanted… Continue reading Who’s Watching You?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[178,179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bulletin","category-marks-messages","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":512,"href":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511\/revisions\/512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tannerchurchofchrist.org\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}