He knows if you’ve been bad or good

“For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and he ponders all his paths.”
-Proverbs 5:21

I used to pride myself on being a good kid. I didn’t sneak out or sleep around or even cuss. Outwardly, I was a moral kid. I grew up in the church and knew all of the rules, and I followed them. Even after I left the church, I still kept myself away from those blatant sins.

It’s really not that hard to keep sins hidden, even if they are blatant. People have affairs for years and are never caught. People do drugs for years and no one ever knows. People will lie every time they open their mouths, and we will elect them to public office. If you are careful, you can keep a public image that is very different than your private one.

Sometimes these sins are exposed, and we, as the public, gasp in surprise and horror. We had no idea that person was like that! The tabloid papers live for this sort of thing.

I was like that. I had my private sins that no one knew about. My thoughts and desires were littered with pride, lust, hatred, bitterness, and ambition, but I didn’t let on in front of others. To everyone else, I was a good kid.

You can get far in life hiding your sins, but there’s a big problem – you can’t hide them from God. Verses like this remind us that God knows even our thoughts.

This verse is in the context of sexual sin. Don’t have sex outside of marriage, it tells us, and a good reason why not is because God sees you, even if no one else does. Even if you are just looking at porn in a dark apartment with the shades drawn, God knows. Even if it is only in your thoughts, He keeps record of it.

A lot of people question whether a good God can condemn people to Hell. The real question is this – how could a good God NOT condemn you to Hell after what you were thinking about yesterday? See, goodness cuts both ways. God is good, yes, but you are not. What is God supposed to do with you?

What He does with us is the most loving act in all of history. He sent His Son to die on our behalf. Jesus, when He was on that Cross, took the penalty for our sin upon Himself. In repentance and faith, we can accept His free gift of eternal life, even though we don’t deserve it.

I haven’t stopped sinning since I became a Christian. I don’t try to hide them nearly as much, but I fear that people still think I am a good person. I’m not. I’m just a FORGIVEN person. There’s a huge difference.

In that moment I was saved, I was given the Holy Spirit to help guide me. While I still sin, He is there to help me not to sin. He is molding me into something better. He is molding me into someone who actually gets excited by the thought that God is watching. I know He is taking care of me. I know He has secured me for forever. And I know that I am still forgiven, even when I stumble.