Noticed

"He told me, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your gifts to the poor have been noticed by God!'"  Acts 10:31

Have you stopped to think about how much we clamor to be noticed these days?  

In the beautiful story referenced above, Cornelius is blessed to play an important part in advancing the Gospel message.  Because of his faithful and consistent obedience to God, Cornelius and his family hear the Gospel message from Peter.  This is the beginning of the message being openly preached not just to Jews, but to ALL people.

God noticed Cornelius.

Our culture promotes the desire to be noticed . . . for something . . . anything . . . everything . . . by someone . . . anyone . . . everyone.  What I find interesting is that in all of our brouhaha to be seen, recognized, noticed, we forget that we are noticed--by the One who really matters.

God.

It is childish, immature to languish in that place where we say, "Watch me!  Look at me!  Notice me!"  Mature adults, mature Christians don't do this.  They do what is right simply because it is the right thing to do.  They care more about the needs of others than their own needs.  They recognize that they are accountable to God and God alone.  There is a depth, a strength to their character that goes beyond the surface, beyond who is humanly paying attention to them.

We must be very careful.  Training our minds to respond to the positive attention of others is serving the wrong god.  Doing good deeds to be noticed by others is serving the wrong god, too.  When God sees us, He sees our motives, too.

Jesus had a lot to say about doing things without being noticed.  In the sixth chapter of Matthew, He tells us to give in secret (Matthew 6:4), to pray in secret (Matthew 6:6), and to fast in secret (Matthew 6:18).  In each case, Jesus goes on to tell us, "And your Father who sees in secret will reward you."

Sometimes we feel unnoticed, as though no one is paying any attention to us.  When this happens, we must recognize our pride and lack of submission to God, allowing the devil to tempt us in this way.

God. Always. Sees. Us.

And He always notices.  Always.

Goodnight, Runners.