Acting like no one sees us.

     Sometimes no one does see us.  Partly because they aren't looking and partly because we don't want to be seen.  With the tech age driving us at such a rapid pace we find it harder and harder to hide.  The question that is asked, why we hide, really should reflect what do we have to hide?  Secrets are power over us.  Discovered secrets are others power over us.  If a hacker could get into your computer memory you would be angry at least.  If a hacker could get into your mind you would be horrified!  So, we act like no one sees us.  Hidden in plain view.  The problem that arises is one where we are self-deceived into believing no one will ever know.  I've tried to keep secrets for most of my life.  I'm glad that the "secrets" are out in the open because they now have no power over me.  People say I've _________ .  You fill in the blank.  Yes, it's true.  I've asked for forgiveness and am forgiven.  I've not done it again.  The secret no longer has power.  Next.
     I grew up in a family where I didn't want to be seen by my abusive dad.  I learned how to be "invisible" when I needed to.  I also learned how to look for secrets.  My secrets were miniscule compared to a religious sect, a government entity, the Pentagon, and on up the ladder.  So, like so many it's easier to point to the "bigger" secret so that others don't see ours.  Then we can go on acting like no one sees us.  "Well, he's not as bad as so and so."  Really?  As a police officer it was my job to watch those who thought no one was looking.  As a therapist I was tasked with helping others unmask their lives to better understand themselves and make the changes they wanted to make.  As a dad my job is to be an example to my children of how to be the person God has asked me to be.  I am sorry I fell down on this one so much!  The list goes on but I think you get the idea.  We need to be seen for who we are in order to have reason to become who we are supposed to be.
     Should we make the discovery of who we are then we don't (or shouldn't) care about what people see us saying or doing.  As a Christian, my witness should be such that people see Jesus and not me.  I know, I'm a long way away from being "there".  For many the idea of who you are is couched in who they want and need you to be.  For the politician you are a voter to whom they will lie just to get your vote.  For the religious you are a person they want to bring over to their way of thinking even if their stance is not Biblical.  For the employer you are a person that they want production from while negating your humanity in order for the bottom line to be reached.  Perhaps you, like me, have been guilty of manipulating to obtain that which you want regardless of right or wrong. 
     I didn't go to acting school.  What you see is what you get.  So, rough with smooth, people can see who I am and who I am not.  If you can't see me as a sinner, you will never see me as a sinner saved by grace.  Your need for me to be a bad guy is trumped by God's need to have me seen as a forgiven son of his.  I have a past.  You do also.  For either of us to just look at the past declares us having no hope for the other.  Our vision is tunnel vision where we see each other as a means to an end.  How sick is that?  Yet, day in and day out, Christians do just this.  We expect this behavior from the world but not from believers.  Psalm 55 tells us that the greatest personal hurt we feel is not from the world but from "you, my companion with whom I have had sweet communion." 
     It's been said that if you put a friend and a dog into the trunk of a car for a couple of hours and then open the trunk; look to see who is happy to see you!  When we live our lives with integrity the world will hate us.  Not because of how we live our lives but because the way we live our lives exposes how they live theirs.  Instead of acting like no one sees us we should act in such a manner that everyone sees Christ in us.  We should want everyone to see Christ.  Not so that they know we have made the right decision but so that they can choose Christ for themselves.  Oswald Chambers says we should live our lives in such a way that people want what we have.  I know that my past has many examples of what people don't want.  Hopefully today and on will be better choices and you will want what He has for you.  Act like everyone sees you!