God on the Shelf

            You’ve probably heard of the Elf on the Shelf, especially if you have children.

            Our girls didn’t know about it until last year but the elf has become a tradition for us during Christmas season. For those who don’t know, it’s an elf that you are supposed to move around the house, put on a shelf or wherever and children “believe” that the elf sees everything and reports their behavior back to Santa.

            I’m pretty certain our daughters know the truth but they love to play along. Now this elf can get annoying because we have to remember to move it around each night. But it’s also fun to see the girls get excited about it.

            Our guest on this week’s episode, Allison Clark, compared that elf to God in a devotional book she published five years ago. She’s right on.

            Think about it. We tell our children the elf is watching during Christmas season. But truth is God is watching every second of every minute of every day of our lives. He not only sees everything. He knows what we’re thinking. He knows our hearts.
            Proverbs 15:3 says: “The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

            Now imagine if we live our lives always recognizing and understanding that God is watching us because He really is. How different would we treat others? And how different would we act when we’re alone? It’s one thing to act a certain way, the right way, a Godly way around people.

            But the real measure of who we are, our true character is how we behave when we’re alone, when nobody is watching and also how we treat people who can’t do anything in return for us.

            God is always watching. We shouldn’t be our best out of fear. We should do it because we love Him and want to be more like Christ.