Are you well known? Most of us would have to answer no to this question. It is said we all will have our 15 minutes of fame. Some seem to have more minutes then others. But just what do we know of well-known people? Only what they let us know, and a few things that slip to the media.
Being known seems to be explored from two fronts. In one way men and women long to be known. If you are in sports, you would long to hit the game-winning run, or sink the last second shot that wins the game for the home team. With this comes a picture in the paper and being a local hero for a while. I say for a while, for with some fans you’re only as good as your last game.
In music you may long to make a best selling recording and be on Oprah to sing your song for the whole nation. In business, to have your face on US News and World Report, because your company just sold for record amounts would be a dream come true. Think about all the talk shows on TV with people sharing their lives with the world. Then you have psychoanalysis sessions where people bare their entire thoughts to the therapist. In all of these cases are people wanting to be known by others, or by another.Yet these same people, in a far deeper way, have a fear of being exposed for who they really are. The hero of the game has the fear of failing in the next game and being just another person again. The singer may never write another hit song, and have others deem him as just being lucky. Some tell their therapist what they want the then to know, and hide what they do not want known, in fear of the whole world knowing.
Have you seen others looking at you in such a way that it causes you to wonder what they are looking at? If this goes on for a while, you may wonder of there is food on your shirt from lunch, or maybe the gazer thinks you are dressed bad that day, or is your hair sticking up, or maybe a button has come undone, or maybe he is just a creep.
Can you do your work as well with others looking over your shoulder? Don’t you hate it when someone gives you work to do, and just stands there and waits on it? I never make as many mistakes at other times, as I do when people watch me work while they waiting. If you’re just like me, there is just this uneasiness that comes with others watching you and you just want to tell them go get a Coke or something.
We all have this doubtful feeling towards people knowing what we are doing. At times it is a great feeling to know others can see us and watch us. Then we have other times we wish people would look the other way.
Movie stars that live for fame, run from the paparzzi. Politicians set up news conferences on one hand, and on the other hand screen calls from the media. Some of the funniest folks that are loud and carry on all the time only use laughter to hide behind so you will not know who they really are. Even in the times we want to be known, we only want known what we wish for others to know and carefully guard what we do not.
But what are we to do before God, whom “all hearts are open, all desires known”? There is nothing to be done. Consequently, it is an awareness of the knowledge of God, as well as His holiness and sovereignty that can produce anxiety in a person that has become aware of their fallen state.
When Adam and Eve sinned, they became aware of this holiness and recognized that they were naked But notice, their nakedness came only after they had sinned and were in shame and guilt. Driven by guilt, they hid from God to cover their shame in order that God would not look on them.
God exposed their sins, but also did something else. He clothed them in skins from an animal which God Himself, sacrificed.
This is a picture for all of us to remember. Mankind sins and lives life as if there is no God, until the guilt of sin sets in. This guilt does not always come at once. In fact, one may live in such sin for years with little to no guilt. But guilt will come some day, and when we are faced with this guilt in light of a holy God that knows all things, there is no place to hide
Being a believer does not mean one does not have sin in their life. A believer still sins and with sin there is guilt. But there is one blessing the believer has that cannot be claimed by others. Christ was the Lamb sacrificed for the believer. With his blood our sins are covered in the same way Adam’s was, so that God does not see the naked sin.
We are all exposed before God as if we stood alone on the stage with the bright lights showing all sides. No makeup covers our flaws. No music to cover our sound. All actions words and thoughts are known by God. Playing the hypocrite is the same as playing the fool. We may well fool others on stage, but we will never fool an all-knowing God.
Psalm 139
1 O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.
2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.
14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
As believers, we can get discouraged in our walk with God. We go forward and then fall back. As soon as we succeed, we let ourselves down as we fail yet again. We over come temptation, but we also fall into temptation, sometimes over and over again. We may say “I’m not making in progress at all. As hard as I try, I still fail. God must be discouraged with me, and even tried of my mess ups.”
But God is not discouraged with us, for God knows all things. Yes, He knows we fail, but He also knows our victories. He is aware of what we will one day be, when by His grace, we are fully be conformed to the image of Christ. This is not only something to rest in, but also a sure thing. So we can take confidence in that, even though the discouragements may be real and many, we have a great destiny in God’s Kingdom.