The Inspector (no that's not the title of a new movie)

So, I work in a kitchen. Usually we aren’t told in advance that the inspector is coming to check us out. But this time, we got told that the lady was coming Tuesday to inspect the kitchen. So on the day she was coming, things worked a bit differently. Because the inspector is here, we feel like we should do things the way we are supposed to do them, so for a few things, we do them differently so it looks proper. It’s not that our ways of working are bad or unhealthy – at all. It’s simply because there are some standards that are to be met. Having lower standards is not a bad thing in itself when it’s still healthy and good, but when the inspector is in, we change our ways a bit.
I always feel wrong about that.
It makes me think, this might be the same way we see Christianity. When we are watched, when we go to church, when we are in the presence of some important spiritual people, we feel like we have to tidy up our spiritual outlook by longer prayers, looking serious or in a thinking mood, or start chatting about the Bible and whatever else we tend to do, or even though we don’t do anything different in the presence of other Christians, we might have the feeling of “Man, I need to look like I’m doing good spiritually” it’s not something we actually all the time tell ourselves, it’s just a sudden fear that builds up in our minds.
If we act that way on earth and are awaiting the return of Christ, are we going to do the same thing with Him, feel like we have to tidy up our lives, our spiritual outlook? I guess often, I’ve feared that Jesus would come back or that I would die soon, because I felt that I wasn’t as good as I should, I felt that I needed to focus myself on Jesus and clean up the junk in me, then I’d be okay to meet Christ. Why? So I don’t feel ashamed, so I look good. But the thing is that we can’t do that. We can’t pretend to look neat in front of Jesus. We can make other Christians think we’re doing pretty good in our walk with Jesus, but we can’t do that with God. When the “Inspector” comes, we won’t be able to hide anything from Him… but the thing is that, Christ is looking into our lives right now today and everyday. It’s like having the inspector in the kitchen every single day. Man, I think, what a burden it would be! I hope that knowing that Jesus is standing by us at all times doesn’t make us feel burdened because we must do things that are good and love and think pure thoughts and… We either act out of love or out of fear. We need to remember again that we are saved not by our own acts or efforts, but only by the work of Christ, knowing that will prompt us to free obedience, that’s the kind of obedience that is light and prompted by love and thankfulness. Or we can forget about that and think that we must obey in order to be blessed and loved by God. That’s wrong and that’s obeying out of fear. I believe we should strive to obey God and fear Him, tremble at His Word, but He knows how ungodly and lazy we were yesterday and He sees us today, seeking Him. And he chooses to forgive.
It’s useless to try to look good, we must be what we are in front of our brothers and sisters. Life in Christ is tough and different, we aren’t super heroes or perfect saints and we all know that. We need to be seeking Christ and obey Him in our daily lives, knowing that He’s watching us, wanting to help us and correct us for our good, and we need to come to His body, the saints, with truth, not allowing ourselves to feel like we have to look good. If we keep on being hypocrites, we won’t grow in maturity and we’ll keep on wearing a spiritual mask for the rest of our lives and that’s not what we want hey?
“Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back – whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’ ” (Mark 13:35-37)
We can be true with eachother and seek to help one another growing.