How should a Christian live their life? The answer is found in the Latin phrase “coram Deo,” which literally means “before the face of God,” or “in the presence of God.” A Christian is to live their entire life with the reality that all they do, both seen and unseen, is done in the presence of God.
What if we lived that way? What if we lived with the reality that everything we did, we did right before God? Would that change anything? The way we talked? The thoughts we had? The places we went? The way we treated other people? I would venture to say that everything would change. The problem is, we do not live like that.
The other day I was taking my small children out of the grocery store and loading them in the car. Both of my littlest children require car seats, and it is always an adventure getting them buckled in safely and quickly. As I was loading them, one of them bumped their head and started crying, the other spilledtheirdrink, and I dropped the milk and it spilled everywhere. I would like to say that I responded calmly and patiently, but my humanity came out and I lost my temper a little. I was hollering, wiping things up and trying to calm kids down, when all of a sudden I realized someone was sitting in the car next to us listening to all of this. I looked over, waived, and the lady just began laughing and said, “Don’t worry, I’ve been there.”
After I got everyone loaded, calmed, and things cleaned up, I got in the car and began thinking. When I saw the woman in the car next to me, I immediately thought, “I need to calm down and be more careful with how I respond.” As I reflected on that, it made me sad. The Bible tells us that God is with us, even though we cannot see Him. Even if that woman had not been there, God was there, but I was obviously more concerned about what the woman thought than what God thought. If I was living my life “coram Deo” I would have been more conscious of the reality that God was watching me and it was Him I was trying to please, instead of some random person.
This story, and a thousand like them, relate to all of us. We have all been there. We are all more conscientious about what we say and do when we know other people are watching. The truth is, someone is always watching, and it is God almighty. Imagine a world where people lived with a constant awareness of God. Imagine Christians who were consciously consumed with living “Coram Deo.” Someone has wisely said, “To live ‘coram Deo’ is to live one’s entire life in the presence of God, under the authority of God, to the glory of God.” This is how Christians are to live; with a constant awareness and reality that all they say and do is before the face of God.
This week, live as though God were physically with you. Live as though you could see Him with your own eyes. Walk and talk in such a way that God would be honored and glorified. If we did that, just imagine how different things would be in your life and in the world. This week, live coram Deo.
pastorjfreeman 