Big Brother is watching you! That concept and terminology was made famous by George Orwell in his novel “1984.” Written in 1949, it was a description of a totalitarian society in which the government kept tabs on all its citizens with cameras and listening devices. Some would argue that much of the population of the United States has become willing participants with devices that allow us to speak our requests and cameras in cell phones and online security cameras everywhere. It is as though someone always has the capacity to see or listen in on us.

That may be a sobering realization. But it has always been a reality to some extent. And I am not just reminding you that God always sees you. The reality of which I speak is that you are being watched by the world. As followers of Jesus, we are told to be aware that others are always watching, always listening, always observing the way we live.

1 Peter 2:9-12 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

That last verse encourages us to live good lives among unbelievers because they are watching. The word translated as “see” is not referring to a casual glance, but a careful watching over a period of time. You are being observed by those who do not believe in Jesus. What are they seeing?

It is for this reason that Peter is careful to point out that God chose you to be His own. As part of His royal priesthood, you should represent God to the world by reflecting His holiness. After all, you belong to Him. He bought you back from sin and death with the blood of Jesus, which cleansed you and made you righteous in His sight.

Are you living a life that shows the world how good God has been to you? We all fall short of that. But that should not keep us from trying. Every time we fall short of the glory of God, we can run back to Him and confess our failings and be assured that the blood of Jesus covered those, too. We hear the goodness and mercy of God declared to us and are empowered to strive again to be those who declare the praises of Him who called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light.

Our desire is to live according to God’s will because we know He has already given us forgiveness and life and salvation.

The world is watching. Let them see God’s goodness by the way you live and act.