Who is your audience?
Our youngest son Samuel has a few passions. One of those passions is ‘Star Wars’. It is very common to find Samuel pretending to be Luke Skywalker with his sister and friends in tow. Samuel and his friends love to have their light sabers attached to their belt loops as they run all around the yard. Thanks to my six year old son, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader have never been in such daunting situations.
Yesterday while the children were playing in our bonus room Samuel decided to try to copy a move he once saw Luke Skywalker make, a forward flip in the air with light saber in hand. What he ended up doing was a forward flop in the air, landing on his light saber with his head. He performed this stunt in front of an audience of six and eight year olds. He bled quite a bit but thankfully he didn’t need stitches. What he did do was learn a valuable lesson…he is no Luke Skywalker.
It reminded me of a Bible study I did with my teenage daughter Meghan and her girlfriend this summer. If you were living your life on a stage, who would be in your audience?
I can tell you who is often in my audience. From time to time it is my husband Paul who is in my audience. Often times it is friends, family, neighbors, and people at church I am playing for. If we are Christians we should only be concerned with playing in front of an audience of one.
Jesus is sitting in the front row waiting to give each one of us a standing ovation. He is front and center waiting to cheer us on. He loves us so. As adults we can fall into the same traps that our children fall into…trying to impress people.
It took a light saber and my adorable son to remind me that there are no repeat performances in my life. I am going to make sure today that I am living my life for an audience of one. I want that standing ovation.
Come on over to my persnoal blog Blessed… for a visit!
You are blessed!
Amen.
I am a visual learner and that was a great visual. Well said.
Smiles!
Amen to that, Joanne. Yes, we are watched by many around us, but I only want to please the One and Only. Thank you for the reminder that we don’t have to pull ‘stunts’, but live a life that please our Lord.
Great devo today. Reminds me that we do not have to be something that we are not, Christ accepts us as we are. So many times, we think we can’t come to Christ because we are not good enough, truth be told, NONE of us but thankfully Christ accepts us and welcomes us as we are. -Blessings.
You make a great point, Joanne!
An audience of One… Amen, Sister. Neat post.
My HEART’s desire is to have the Lord be my audience, front row and center. My Deeper heart’s desire is to be His audience, front row and center.
However, my desire to please, my need to be liked, my hopes for peace often get in the way…so I perform. Yucky! I know as I continue to pray and grow, the Lord’s Spirit in me will become greater and I will become less. Just might take a bit longer.
Great post!!!!!
BTW, my word verification is “Love.” Just what I need to remind me Who my focus is… 🙂
Oh yes. I’m struggling to NOT people please so much. This was a great analogy for me, a good picture to carry in my mind. Thank you 🙂
Joanne—This was a great reminder for all of us. Especially me. Me. The one who is sometimes overly worried of what others think—it is Jesus I live for—Jesus I desire to please. Nothing else should matter—since He is my audience!
I loved this 😉
This is always something that we need to remind ourselves. Many times we can get so involved in doing ministry that we can forget Who we’re doing it for. We can try so hard to please people (some of whom can’t be pleased) that we can stress ourselves out and forget what really matters, Him. So often we don’t want to be “real” or “vulnerable” with others, but Jesus wants us to be transparent and love and serve one another, not try and impress.
Amen to the audience of One! He is the only One that matters.
I’m so glad your little “Luke Skywalker” didn’t need stitches.
Have a blessed weekend.
I was really touched by this post! I struggle with this at times and I always appreciate a reminder that it is Jesus who we perform for!!! Amen!
Great devo Joanne! I tried posting to you on your blog, but the verification word is hanging, it won’t show any letters. Just sits there “loading”. Another friend’s blog was doing the same thing this morning. Thought you’d wanna know that! (((hugs!)))