Living Before The Audience Of One

Life is a strange mix of living for self and living for others. Have you ever considered life as living before the audience of One?
A child is on the stage using all she has to fill the role that she has been cast in. Her teacher is closely looking on and every once in a while you will hear an encouraging word to prompt the little girl as she says her lines. There are hundreds of sets of eyes on her! Other students, teachers, other parents and those who are friends of some friends who actually purchased tickets to see the presentation. But the one set of eyes the little girl is most concerned about are the eyes of her parents. How will Mom and Dad think about my performance? “Was I good? Mommy?” “Daddy!....did you see me?
So many times in our lives we forget who we are truly living for. There are only one set of eyes that need to be of concern to us…the eyes of God.
It’s hard to imagine each and every aspect of our lives on display before God…but that is reality. It’s how we live each day…before the Audience of One.
That can sound intimidating but it doesn’t have to be something that we are afraid of or want to run from.
Knowing the character of God puts us at ease because we’re convinced that the Lord God will be consistent in His interactions with us.
Scripture tells us that God knows that we are frail (As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; for He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust. Psalm 103:13-14 NIV), and that we many times do things that displease him. We have read about his wrath and yet so desire His Mercy. We know HE could take our breath away at any moment but we pray our bodies will last forever. We long for meaningful loving relationships and yet with the speed of life and some of our choices, we seem only to connect superficially.
The strength that each one of us can have is freely found in the truth that God knows all our fears, our joys, our sorrows and disappointments and yet loves us extravagantly.
No matter how bad it gets, we are confident that He is close to us.
So….knowing that He is near and we live our life before Him…what is it that matters most to Him?
Is it faith? Is it prayer? Do bible reading and study rank at the top of His list of important “to Do’s? Is it evangelism or singing as worship? Personally, I don’t think so. It’s not that the above list isn’t important, it’s just that I think there is more to being with God, walking with Him, than a list of things I could do for God. As I’ve considered this for a while now, I propose to you this Sunday that what He is looking for is trust. Trust in Him for our soul security. Trust in Him for our life here. Trust in Him for our daily needs and challenges. As I try to keep in mind that I’m Living for The Audience of One, and this grand audience is willing to enable, equip, and empower me to love a life that reflects Him before everyone else that happens to be watching.
As you prepare for our corporate worship this Sunday…come looking for that audience of One that sees every deepest darkest part of your life and still loves you.
The audience of One is a great place to start your walk with Christ. He sees you for what you really are and is never shocked. Past the façade of success and the wealth and prestige and good works, He sees and knows your heart. And it is good and it trusts God.
I’ll be looking for you on Sunday as we visit with this Audience of One.
Pastor Brian