Audience of One

Hold on to your hat, someone from Arkansas is about to quote Shakespeare, and no, I don't mean a Shakespeare fishing gear representative, the actual William Shakespeare: "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages."

Willie, as we like to call him here in Arkansas, is quite right.  Our lives are played out in front of others.  People are always watching, gaining insight and forming an opinion from how we act and react to the scenes of life as they unfold.

We are not unaware of this fact.  Rather, we choose our words, our next steps, our reactions in view of who we believe our audience might be at the moment.  When we are young, we tend to act one way if our parents are in the audience another way if it our friends.  As adults, how we act around our co-workers and how we act around our boss is often vastly different.  What one would see of in at home getting ready for church and what they see when we arrive there can be world's apart. 

Is any of this sounding familiar?  Have I crossed the line from teaching to meddling?  I hope so.  I want you to take this personally, I want you to do more than just listen and nod, I want you to shake your head and think, "Yeah, been there done that and haven't quite got all the way past it."  That would be thee truth as we all wear the masks of the stage from time to time, depending on who is in the audience.

But here's a reality that is so much more important than who all might be in the audience - so much more important is Who is always in the audience.  There is One who is watching every moment, listening to every word, seeing every act and every reaction - the same One that pays attention to even the sparrows (cf. Lk 12:6), it is the One from which "nothing is hidden in all creation" (Heb 4:13): God!

Regardless of who might be watching at any particular moment in time, God is always watching, every moment in time.  Your audience may contain many or few, but it always has One.  What you say and do never goes unnoticed by God.  And, with all the many that watch your life, there is only One that ultimately matters and only One to whom you must give an answer: that same God.

While I think it important how we conduct ourselves before everyone as it impacts them and can have an impact on us, it is vitally and eternally important that we concern ourselves with our Audience of One who is always there, pulling for us, encouraging us, but one day must judge us.  He watches with the loving eyes of a Father, wanting the best for his child but also of the God of the Universe upon whom justice rests.  

I pray that all who read these words choose to focus on the Audience of One and not allow the many others to distract you.  And I pray that you will accept the grace of the One who makes up this Audience of One offered in Christ Jesus alone.  Jus' Say'n.