Big brother

The word of God is alive and active, sharper than any two-edged sword. It cuts all the way through, to where soul and spirit meet, to where joints and marrow come together. It judges the desires and thoughts of the heart. There is nothing that can be hidden from God; everything in all creation is exposed and lies open before his eyes. And it is to him that we must all give an account of ourselves.  (verses 12, 13)

Read Hebrews 4:1-13

In the novel 1984 George Orwell introduced the concept of ‘big brother’. He depicted a society where an individual’s every action and word was monitored and scrutinised. Television took the concept into the area of entertainment, with live police action programs and reality game shows such as ‘Survivor’ and ‘Big Brother’. Cities all round Australia are installing security cameras in city streets and on top of buildings to improve security monitoring of high-crime and high-risk area. While this is happening, our society is debating about the point at which entertainment and the need for security monitoring crosses over to become invasion of privacy.

Ironically, none of this type of surveillance really is able to get to the heart of the problem. Only God’s word can see past the actions and get to the source. ‘It judges the desires and thoughts of the heart.’ While society debates the question of privacy versus entertainment and security, remember that God already sees and knows everything – about you, about the world. Are you ready to give account to him?

Lord, you are always with me and always aware of what I do. May my words, actions and attitudes give you joy. Amen.

by Pastor Tom Peitsch, in ‘Living Water for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 2001)

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