By Rachel Loe, March 18, 2024

“Character is what you do when no one else is looking.” I could not find the origins of this quote. I think it was John Wooden, but I believe that we all have heard it often in the West. I am pretty sure I remember it being painted on the wall of my high school. I passed it every day and became numb to it. It is such an easy quote and obviously logical. It appeals to the inner man that recognizes that the Law of God is written on man’s heart (Romans 2:14-15). We know what is right and what is wrong. The truth we know as believers is that there are never truly no eyes on us. Nothing is done in secret that will not be brought to the light (Mark 4:22), but it is so easy for us at work to slip into easy “shortcuts.” There are patterns in this world that tell us that if we do this slight shortcut, “no one gets hurt,” and we will get ahead. I have even found myself in a situation where I was laughed at because I did not take the easy shortcut, and my coworkers found it “quaint” that I held so tightly to my principles (their words, not mine). I did not have the heart to tell them that I fall so woefully short of my principles daily that it would exhaust them. So why is it important that we, as believers, hold to the truth that we know from scripture, even when it seems no one will get hurt or affected? 

2 Peter 2:9-12 (ESV) puts it this way:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

I want to put the whole passage in bold and underline it because it highlights so many good points! We are made set apart for His good purpose and glory. My parents always told me, “You play for an audience of one.” About who I am working for, it is to the Lord. As this series is on culture-making, this passage ties up nicely with the fact that while we play for an audience of one, we also have no idea who else is observing us and how they might be viewing the Lord based on our witness for Him. When we conduct ourselves as unto the Lord, even if we get passed over for that job promotion or don’t get the recognition we deserve, that does not go unnoticed, and others around us will wonder what is different. 

Be encouraged, dear believer, that Galatians 6:9 (NIV) will hold true.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.