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Audience
of One
A brilliant young
concert pianist was performing for the first time in public.
The audience sat enthralled as beautiful music flowed from his
disciplined fingers. The people
could hardly take their eyes off this young virtuoso.
As the final note faded,
the audience burst into applause. Everyone
was giving him a standing ovation.
As the young man stood
before the audience, he scanned the audience until he found one person in
particular. He finally located him, and when he saw that this person was
also standing and applauding with great approval, the young pianist
graciously acknowledged the ovation.
WHO was the person whose
opinion meant so much to the young man?
Whose praise and approval meant the most to him? It
was his teacher!
Virtually all of us seek
the approval of someone. Whether we are aware of it or not, we do things
with an eye to the approval of one audience or another. The question is
not whether we have an audience
but from which audience are we
seeking approval.
It
is a great temptation to seek the approval of the “crowd.” But it is not the approval of the “crowd” that is
most important. After all,
the opinion of the “crowd” often changes.
In fact, the “crowd” (the world) often applauds the wrong
things!
The Apostle Paul asked,
“Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God?
Or am I trying to please men?” Then he affirmed: “If I were still trying to please men, I
would not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10).
In
the end there is ONLY ONE
Audience that really counts: God!
He is the One to whom we must give account (Hebrews 4:13).
He is the One that we must seek to please.
God is also the One
that we should WANT to please.
Why? Because He
created us in His image (Genesis 1:26-27).
And, because even though that image has been marred due to our sin,
He still wants to save us. He loves us so much that He gave His Son Jesus to die for our
sins so that we might have forgiveness (Ephesians 1:7) and the hope of
living with Him eternally in heaven (1 Peter 1:3-4).
God
will save those who: believe
in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sins in repentance
(Acts 17:30-31), confess
Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized
(immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).
He will continue to cleanse those who continue to strive to follow
His revealed will (1 John 1:7).
Do WE have the same
desire for God's approval as that pianist had for
his teacher's praise?
To follow God is to live
for the ONLY audience that counts – the
Audience of ONE. “Therefore
we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to
Him” (2 Corinthians 5:9).
Won’t
you make that YOUR aim?
David A. Sargent,
Minister
Church of Christ at Creekwood
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama 36695
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