Is God Looking Over Our Shoulders?

You can’t expect people to see eye to eye with you if you are looking down on them.

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.” Philippians 2:3

I watched a documentary show the other day on how we perceive the world around us. It focused mainly on how the brain processes information and how we use that information to make decisions.

In one of the examples the documentary team set up a booth at a busy mall courtyard. The booth had written all over it, “Free Money.” Sitting on a stand on the ledge of the booth was a fish tank filled with dollar bills. A guy stood in the booth and as people walked by he would ask them, “Hey would you like some free money?”

In nearly every case, the people would look at him, pause for a second and then say no. Every once in a while you might get someone who would say, “What’s the catch.” The trust centers in our brains are wired so that if we get an offer from someone that seems too good to be true then we automatically don’t trust it. Even if it’s something as simple as a guy in a booth giving away free money.

They took the experiment a step further and left the booth open with the money sitting out, but this time, no person trying to hawk the wares. Guess what?

The money disappeared in a few minutes.

With no one minding the store, more people decided to give it a shot and soon a crowd was around the booth, reaching their hands in the fishbowl and grabbing fistfuls of cash.

Then the researchers decided to do something different. They left the stand open with the cash sitting out and no one minding the booth, but this time they put a picture of a big set of eyeballs looking right at the money bowl.

Nothing different than before. Just a picture. No one took the money. With the picture of the eyeballs, people’s brains were fooled into thinking that someone was watching them. Like when the guy was minding the stall. If we think someone is watching us, then we think an offer is too good to be true. If it’s too good to be true then our instincts tell us not to trust it and to walk away.

Which now leaves me in a dilemma.

I’ve got an offer for you that’s too good to be true.

You can have a life filled with hope and joy and contentment. You can make life-time friends and have a fellowship that will be with you during the good and bad times so you’ll never feel alone. You can learn the happiness that comes from thinking of others and feel so blessed you’ll never want again. That’s what God will do for you.

But now the dilemma. Is God watching you? We all think that. Both church and non- church folks. For some the thought of a God looking over our shoulders all the time will trigger that “don’t trust” center in our brains and we’ll see them running away.

For others, knowing that God is watching over us gives us a sense of hope and peace because we see God as our constant companion.

And this really is one offer that’s both too good and too true. PASTOR TROY CONRAD IS MINISTER OF THE FARMINGTON UNITED METHODIST CHURCH.