Live Right Before the Lord

It came to light this week that the federal government has taken access to the data from telephone companies which shows literally every phone call made and received to and from this country.  This data, because of the fact it is untold billions of pieces of information, is referred to as “meta-data.”  This information is ostensibly used to track phone calls of suspected Muslim terrorists’ activities.  Of course, this also means that every phone call you and I have ever made is accessible to someone who may want to look for it.  Though we can protest these intrusions, as we do all the overreaching of those in government with obsessions of power, it seems our words most often fall on deaf ears.  Our most effective action, though, is to guard our conduct, letting our speech as the Bible tells us, “be always with grace, seasoned with salt.” (Colossians 4:6)  Our words ought to be “a word fitly spoken, as apples of gold in pictures of silver.” (Proverbs 25:11) I’m glad that, even though I don’t like the idea that some bureaucrat could look into my phone habits, I haven’t made phone calls I would wish to hide.  My wife and I have never had to wonder “whose phone number is that on the phone bill?”  With the advent of the internet and the capability of storing information that is a reality of the day in which we live, one marvels at the lack of intelligence many display when they upload things to the internet!  It is called the World Wide Web for good reason!  Did that person really think the photos of their drunken debaucheries would not ever be seen by a potential employer?  Did that young person who put up sensual photos of herself not think some sexual predator would ever attempt to reach her?  Certainly many find their unsavory deeds on the internet and in phone calls to later be a great humiliation and destructive influence.  It’s too bad more people don’t realize there is a higher authority in Heaven who sees our actions, hears our speech, and even knows our thoughts.  It is ultimately to Him, the God of Heaven, that we will all give account.  Romans 14:12 “So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” We can’t go back in time and erase our past sins and failures, but we can move forward with a greater motivation to live right before the Lord and before the eyes of the world.