How many faces do you have?  

Atheist comedian Stephen Fry once said (quite ironically) that you are who you are when nobody’s watching. When social restraints are removed, when the cameras aren’t rolling, what sort of person are you? What sort of choices do you make? 

All of us—especially men—need to ask these questions of ourselves in the wake of the daily flurry of scandals from Hollywood and Washington. This isn’t a problem “out there” in someone else’s sound studio, office, or home. It’s a problem “in here,” at the depths of the sinful human heart. 

Is the person we portray to others the same person we are when we’re by ourselves—or more importantly—when we believe there will be no consequences for our actions? 

This is sometimes called “living on your face;” in other words, making sure that what you present in public is the character you demonstrate in private. Only as Christians, we know that there’s nowhere we can flee from the presence of God, who sees all, and who is always with us, and who promises that “our sins will find us out.” 

For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit Colsoncenter.org

This Point was originally published on January 1, 2018.