The title for this article comes from the Christmas carol, “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.” The song warns little boys and girls to be good because, “he sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake; he knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake!” According to Christmas tradition, good boys and girls get toys and presents while bad boys and girls get lumps of coal. Since Santa always sees and knows, you had better be good!
Many Christians forget that this applies to God, since He is the one that truly sees you at all times and knows all about us, even the number of the hairs on our heads (Luke 12:7). Too many seem to think that we can live our lives by our own terms, and we can still be acceptable to God, so long as we remember to act good at the right times. Take, for instance, the example of Hophni and Phinehas. These two boys were sons of Eli, who was a judge in Israel, and they were priests. These boys were lousy, despicable men (1 Samuel 2:12-17). When Israel was defeated by the Philistines, they brought the ark from Shiloh into the camp, and Hophni and Phinehas came with it. Israel was excited about the ark coming, and it scared the Philistines, but Israel was defeated, the ark captured and Hophni and Phinehas were killed (1 Samuel 4). The Israelite camp was fooled by the priests carrying the ark, but God knew better. He knew they had been bad. They were weighed, measured and found wanting.
