Of My Audience

Today's morning sermon at my church was an "evangelistic message". Meaning it was more tailored and directed at people who have not made a profession of faith. Funny thing was, I felt greatly convicted the whole time. There was one part in particular where he talked about how we never lift the Bible from our nightstand, how we do not pray to God, how we do not seek out his companionship, protection, and guidance; turning every one to his own way. I began to realize that as a conductor seeks the approval and praise of his audience, so we as humans turn to our peers for approval and praise. They are our audience.
We naturally need the acceptance by others, part of our companionship nature. And it feels even better to be praised by someone, to hear they think we're cool, clever, or clean cut. In the end of the day, we like hearing, "your better than me in this area." To the adolescent especially, our approval and praise is our identity. We cannot help but cling to it, seek it, and feed it as much as we can.

Then I got to thinking about my life and all the audiences I'll have, at work, at school, at church, friends, family, mission trips, that guy you met that time that you'll never, ever see again but you both made an impression on each other because of how funny the situation was, I realized, they don't matter. How much wiser is it to seek the approval and praise of my Creator than my fellow straying created? How much more effective would it be? To my soul? To my neighbor's soul? If I make Him my singular audience, I can guarantee you I will not get the approval and praise of the world for it. Yet as I live, a few of them will be my audience and see some of my life's script in action. And while they are sitting there, watching, having their own thoughts, I want to be proclaiming to them the climax at every turn.
I wonder what is the best way to capture an audience. Perhaps to convince them that they are not our audience at all, but one greater whose approval and praise we regard high above any of theirs. And if they caught the climax, if we captured them, if they have the same basic needs as you and I, wouldn't they want the same praise we strive after? That ultimate and matchless approval and praise which none other can begin to contest with?

So if someday you see me, eyes closed, talking to myself one day about the some deep love and double cure of which no man can comprehend; if someday you here that I've declined a job offer at a respectable company whose CEO's ride Porsche's and have gone to some foreign land with no money and no possessions working on a building that will shelter ten kids while they do their multiplication tables; if someday you find me unresponsive, lost in a book about how a father raises his daughter or how a man rehabilitates an emaciated community; don't worry your pretty little head.
Because I will be working, will be seeking, will be writing, will be playing.
For my audience of one.