Reflections: “Doing the right thing…. when no one is looking”
The Auckland Branch recently celebrated the 40th year since the branch was established. As part of the celebration, my wife Carol and myself were tasked with pulling together photos over the years. Delving through the vast treasure trove of photos since we joined the community around 17 years ago, and with the help of others who were there since the beginning, was a delight and brought back so many wonderful memories.
Memories.... As we go grow older, we are filled with life's memories. Memories of our childhood, family holidays, our special friendships, our first job, our blessings, our challenges, our family and friends who now live in distant lands and those who are gone before us.
A couple of weeks ago a memory from my school days flashed before me. Admittedly, this was such a long time ago, that it feels like a century ago - To be fair, it was in the last millennium!
I studied in a school run by Jesuit priests, and was sitting for my final school exams in Mumbai. This was commonly referred to as Board exams, since these exams were run by the education board of the State and not by the school we attended. For these exams, we were placed in different schools across the city. One of my school mates was placed in a convent school that was run by nuns. During one of the exams that was particularly difficult, this mate was having a hard time answering some of the questions. It wasn’t too long before his mind started to wander, and so did his eyes. He started peering into the answer sheets of his neighbours and began replicating the answers onto his own answer sheet, while trying to be as discreet as possible.
This carried on for a while, when the supervisor who was a nun noticed him, then tapped him on the shoulder and said "Son, do you know that God is looking at you right now?" Prompt came the reply - "Sister, I do know that God is looking at me right now, but could you close your eyes and not look at me for the next hour or so - please!"
I smile every time I think of this, but it got me thinking about how important it is for us to do the right thing always, especially when no one is looking. God wants us to live righteously and with integrity, and integrity comes when someone can be trusted to do the right thing always. Knowing what’s right doesn’t mean much, unless you do what’s right.
“When we know what is right and fail to do it, it is a sin” -James 4:17.
Christ lived a life of righteousness even when faced with temptations. He resisted the Devil when He was physically weak from fasting forty days and nights. He knows what it is like to do the right thing when no human is looking. In fact, He tells us to try to do our good deeds when no one is looking (Matthew 6:1). He is the epitome of true integrity.
I believe doing what is right when no one is watching is a sign of a mature Christian. It is not always easy. This is why God gives us all a helper within us to resist temptations. The Holy Spirit gives us the wisdom we need in our daily walk, and can guide us in situations to discern when we should do the right thing and helps us from choosing a path of righteousness. The Holy Spirit is what matures us daily in our walk.
Therefore, Brothers and Sisters, let us strive to not fall short in doing the right thing all the time – even when no one is looking. Let our lights shine even if there is “no one” to see it.
For the Father sees us always and is willing to reward us when we live righteously, even in secret - Matthew 6:4.
Lionel D’Souza
CHALLENGES IN LIVING TOGETHER AS A COMMUNITY
Resource for House Group Discussion by Tom Caballes
To Live Happily Ever After – November 2025
“And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the
thirsty, I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will
have this heritage, and I will be his God, and he will be my son. ”
We are familiar with many movies we have watched. We even have favourites – the ones we memorise the lines, sing along to, and cry and cry again, even if we've watched them for the 100th time. We remember the stories, the plots, the subplots, and then the conclusion—how the story ends. Each good storyline has a beginning, a conflict, a resolution, and a conclusion. A good story must have these elements in some form or another—otherwise, it is missing some critical parts that do not gratify or make sense. Most of the stories we know conclude with something like, “and they lived happily ever after.” It makes for a satisfying story, where everything is complete with a proper outcome at the end.
Our lives also have their stories. The main difference between our life stories and fairy tales or movies is that our lives are real – we experience joy and sadness, victory and defeat, success and failure, and so on, on a factual daily basis.
We all have our beginnings. We did not influence when, where, or how we were born. Someone made those decisions for us – our Creator. He was the mind and the source of our existence. He could have freely made a world without us, but it was His choice that we are here at this point in time and space. God has a beautiful plan for us – He is keen to invite us to share His divine fellowship and partake in the friendship of the Triune God and His angelic community. He gave us free will – we can choose to say yes or no to that plan. We can make our own plans for our lives without God. It is our freedom to choose Him, whether God is delighted or saddened with us.
We also face our own conflicts. We encounter challenges, trials, pain, and difficulties in life. Sometimes we ask, “What is going on with my life?” We confront a world that falls into sin daily, marked by evil. We see greed, anger, lust, envy, selfishness, pride, and more — among our friends, family, and within ourselves. We recognise a fallen human nature that works with the influence of the world and the evil one. In today's world, it's common to put our own needs before others. It’s all about me – my success, feelings, and life.
Then, we come to the conflict resolution stage. That is where we come to our Creator and see the difference in how we live and how God wants us to live our lives. We experience the emptiness deep in our souls of living a greedy and selfish life – it does not fulfil our God-given longing. We come to the Cross of Christ – where we are offered a new life based on God and to live in the power of God’s Spirit. It is now up to us to choose our path – to seek our own ways for our lives or to accept the invitation from God to live a life with Him.
Our story is currently at this stage. We cannot yet see the conclusion. Although many of us have decided to follow God’s plan for our lives, we still struggle with a broken and dying world. We will have to fight the good fight of faith until the Lord calls us home finally, where we can see our conclusion for real. For now, we face the daily grind of living with pain and suffering, as well as the consequences of sin in our lives, while looking forward to the eternal hope to come.
What is the conclusion of our story? It started with God and will end with God. We will see His face. We will spend the rest of our lives with God and His people. Gone will be sorrow, pain, suffering and death. We will learn what He is like. He will teach us to become like Him, and we will become like Him. We will become mini-Christs in everything.We will have a big party with all those who also choose God to be His friend. We will have an eternity to know, learn, love and serve one another. We will meet the saints and the martyrs who have given up everything for their love for God. We will meet holy men and women of the ancient days and compare our experiences in this life. We will assemble in a grand prayer gathering composed of all angelic beings, saints, and martyrs, and we will finally triumph over our battles in the unity of the Holy God. We will become God’s agents worldwide – and even in the universe. God is the God of the vast universe, and each of us will have a role in having dominion over all creation. We will reign with God to explore, discover, and reign over all of God’s creation. We will rule with God forever and enjoy His friendship for all time.
That is what I call living happily ever after.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:3-4 ESV)
