Angels Are Watching Us
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Hebrews 12:1 NIV
The charge to live righteously in this present world sobers us when we realize that the walk and warfare of Christians is the primary concern of heaven and its angelic hosts. Paul said, “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the chosen angels, that you guard and keep [these rules] . . .” (1 Timothy 5:21 AB). Paul was stirring up Timothy to remember that the elect angels were constantly watching how he served the Savior and lived the Christian life. What fact could provide a greater motivation to righteous living than that? I must say to myself, “Careful, angels are watching!”
It must give the angels great satisfaction to watch the church of Jesus Christ minister the unsearchable riches of Christ to lost men everywhere. If the angels rejoice over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:10), then the angelic hosts are numbered among the spectators in the heavenly grandstands. They are included among those who are referred to as “so great a cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1); and they never miss any of the details of our earthly pilgrimage. Yet they do not jeer as did the Greek crowds of Paul’s day. Rather, as we declare the Gospel and see our friends saved, they rejoice with us.
In his book Though I Walk Through the Valley, Dr. Vance Havner tells of an old preacher who worked into the night on a sermon for his small congregation. His wife inquired why he spent so much time on a message that he would give to so few. To this the minister replied, “You forget, my dear, how large my audience will be!” Dr. Havner adds that “Nothing is trivial here if heaven looks on. We shall play a better game if, ‘seeing we are encompassed,’ we remember who is in the grandstand!”
Our valleys may be filled with foes and tears, but we can lift our eyes to the hills to see God and the angels, heaven’s spectators, who support us according to God’s infinite wisdom as they prepare our welcome home.
Our Father and our God, it thrills me to know that You and Your angels are cheering me along my pathway of life. I can run harder and longer with You by my side. Help me to hear Your encouragement daily, Lord. Help me to see Jesus, my brother and friend, running beside me. In His name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).