Who's Watching? Big Brother or Heavenly Father?

These days we hear a lot about surveillance video. The technology has improved so much, there are now tiny security cameras everywhere. Police have dashboard cameras and body cams. Most public buildings have dozens of small cameras recording everything that happens from multiple angles. More and more people are installing security cameras in their homes. And, of course, almost every time someone does something foolish, somebody else is standing nearby with a smart phone, recording the incident. If the behavior is especially embarrassing, the video will be posted to social media and by dinnertime approximately 50 million people will have seen it.

Conventional wisdom is that surveillance cameras provide information: who did what and when. In the context of law enforcement, this makes sense. If something is stolen or vandalized, or if someone is assaulted, we want to bring the perpetrator to justice.

Additionally, behavioral scientists tell us when people know their actions and words are being recorded, they act differently. They are more likely to be on their best behavior.

People being on their best behavior because they are being watched is not really a new phenomenon. Throughout history many people have modified their actions and words because they were being watched—watched by God.

Now, don’t roll your eyes. Think about it. What do we as Christians believe? We believe our Heavenly Creator is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. That is, all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-present. You think the surveillance system down at the bank is sophisticated? It can only record what we do and say. But God is aware, not only of those two things, but also of what we think! God can read the human heart and mind.

Speaking on behalf of sinners everywhere, I have first-hand knowledge that the human heart and mind are not exactly wonderful all the time. God being aware of our every thought, word, and deed can be a rather uncomfortable concept.

But the thing is, it should not be uncomfortable. You see, God is not the Big Brother of Orwell’s nightmarish police state. God is not spying on us to gather evidence so that we, the perpetrators, can be brought to justice. God is instead our loving Father. He knows what we are doing because He is God (that’s just part of the job description; He knows everything!), but since He is our loving parent, He longs for us to become more holy and good.

God wants us to grow in faith and love, and to become less selfish and cruel. When we sin—even if no other human being knows about it—God is not looking to condemn us. He wants to forgive us and send us forth with the words of Jesus: “Go and sin no more.”

This fact should make us more comfortable, rather than the modern high-tech surveillance society, which often makes people paranoid.

Think of that sappy song by Bette Midler, “God Is Watching Us.” When that song comes on the radio, no one changes the station because the idea of God watching us causes paranoia. (However, a person might change the station because they’ve had their daily quota of schmaltz.) The song lyrics say God is watching us from a distance. To be theologically correct, God is a lot closer than that. When we were baptized, the Holy Spirit—a Person of the divine Holy Trinity—came to dwell in our heart. So, God is watching us from as close as you can get, from right inside us.

They say character is defined as what you do when no one is watching. In our modern surveillance society, it seems that a security camera is watching most of the time. This may cause some people, out of fear, to act better. But people of faith have always known that our Heavenly Father is watching. We should strive to live holy lives all the time, not because we’re afraid of getting in trouble, but because it’s simply the right thing to do and it pleases the Lord.