It happens occasionally and recently was one of those days. Someone in a race cheated by taking a shortcut. The King of the Hammers is an off-road race in the Mojave Desert and the first place winner in his class of cars took a detour that avoided the worst rocks. How could he have possibly thought he could get away with it? There were video cameras at the spot he missed and he never showed up at that place. Many years ago at the New York City Marathon a runner took the subway for a few miles of the race. This is worse than the tortoise and the hare. All the hare did was to take a nap. He never cheated. He just had too much confidence.
The last verse of Ecclesiastes is a scary text. It reads, “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” The video is recording. It reminds one of Santa Claus Is Coming to Town. He’s making a list and checking it twice to see who’s been naughty or nice. He sees you when you’re sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. So you better watch out. You better be nice.”
Before I understood how forgiving God is I was very fearful because of that verse in Ecclesiastes. But now I understand. God is watching us always so He can catch us doing something good. He doesn’t want to miss that magic moment when we stop trying to earn salvation and instead surrender and accept the gift of His grace. He doesn’t have to watch to catch us doing bad. We do plenty of that. He is watching to catch us doing something good. How grand.
Written by Roger Bothwell on February 7, 2014
Spring of Life, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
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