Audience of One

EDIT: My own Mama now has a xanga page, set up by yours truly! I thought I'd let you know... it is www.xanga.com/pen_of_fire ! The day dawns, sun streams through your window - it's a beautiful Sunday morning. You hurry to get dressed, and soon are traveling with the rest of your family to church. You take a seat at church, and the music begins. You stand up, with people behind you and in front of you, and begin to sing. You close your eyes and raise your hands. For all intesive purposes, it appears that you are deep in worship - passionate about God...but here is what is going on in your head: "Blessed be your...you know, I wonder if __ is seeing how passionatly I am worshipping...I bet they would be impressed...maybe I should raise my hands a little higher...in the land that is plentiful...oh, goodness - I think I forgot to eat breakfast this morning! Ugh - I'm SO hungry! Streams of ubandance flow...oh, Mrs. __ just looked at me, I'd better keep my mind on singing! I wouldn't want her to think that I don't care about Jesus..." After church, you notice someone you want to impress glancing over at you now-and-again...then a lady drops all of the books that she has piled up in her arms onto the floor! Here is what goes through your mind: "Oh! I bet __ would be impressed if I picked up this lady's books for her! I wonder if they'll notice me, if I help her...maybe I should say, 'Here, let me help you, Ma-am!' just loud enough so that they'll be able to hear me..." Have you ever heard of "The Fear of Man"? In a nutshell, it includes wanting people to have a good impression of you so much that you often pay more attention to what they think, and trying to impress them, than what God thinks and trying to honor him. Here is what God has said about that: "Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." (Matthew 6:1-4) Maybe you have never experienced situations like those above...or maybe you are tempted in that way almost every day! Whatever your situation, though, we all have times when our focus wavers and our motives are all wrong...and it is in those times when we need to re-focus...to put on our "blinders" that will help point us again to our "Audience of One" - God. Here are some "blinders" that will re-direct your motives, and remind you that it is all about God: Blinder #1: Psalm 73:23-28 "Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. But for me it is good to be near God;I have made the Lord God my refuge,that I may tell of all your works. ~God is the only one who can strengthen us, and he is the only one worth desiring to impress. He is always watching us, and ultimately, it is only his opinion that will count.~ Blinder #2: Psalm 63:2-8 "So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me." ~When we behold God's power and glory, when we stand in awe of what he's done - even the "little" things like snowflakes or sunshine, we won't be able to help ourselves - praise will flow forth! We are always in the shadow of his loving, protecting wings...and it is there that we can sing for JOY...no matter what we are going through....FOR AS LONG AS WE LIVE! Meditate on Him, and your heart will see that he is the only one worth giving our all to.~ Blinder #3: Isaiah 64:6 "We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away." ~Hmmm...well, obviously none of our "righteous deeds" are any good...on our own. They are filthy - it is like handing a polluted garment to God and saying, "Here are my good deeds!" Why would we want to do that? It is only when we surrender to God's will and do these good things to bring glory to HIM, that they will be like a sweet incense. We are nothing on our own.~ Blinder #4: Psalm 39:1-9 "I said, “I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth with a muzzle, so long as the wicked are in my presence. I was mute and silent; I held my peace to no avail, and my distress grew worse. My heart became hot within me. As I mused, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue: O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah Surely a man goes about as a shadow! Surely for nothing they are in turmoil; man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather! And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you. Deliver me from all my transgressions. Do not make me the scorn of the fool! I am mute; I do not open my mouth, for it is you who have done it." ~We must guard our tongues and our hearts at all times. Before you do something, evaluate your motives...are you doing something to bring honor and glory to God - even if no one will ever see? Or are you trying to get attention for yourself? We are fleeting shadows in this world of sin, and we must make the most of the time that we are given. Many things in this life may seem important now, but have no eternal significance. We can heap up all of the riches we want to in this life, but if we have no treasures in heaven, we have squandered our time.~ Selah.

Serving Jesus

Matthew 25:31-40 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’” Yesterday evening I was priveleged to be able to serve many of our church leaders at a special dinner we had for them. It was already arranged, and our wonderful church secretary/do-everything-lady had planned out the night splendidly. All that myself and several other youth (including my cool brother, Ben) had to do was serve the food and make sure that everything went smoothly...and then of course, clean up afterwards. It went great, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Then Mr. Snapp (our pastor) gathered everyone together at the end and recounted to us God's amazing ways that had brought everyone who was there to the same church. To think that we could have never even met all of the wonderful friends that we have now...but God. Then Mr. Snapp prayed to close the meeting. But one phrase that he said got caught in my mind, and I think that God spoke to me right there, in the middle of the prayer - and after the prayer was over, I grabbed a paper-towel and a pen and wrote what I felt down. This is the phrase that Mr. Snapp used: "Jesus, you are the guest-of-honor." Simple, right? And then I thought of that night, and many other times when I have served - especially those times when I felt that what I was doing was so insignificant. And those 7 words merged with the pictures I had in my mind of serving the people at "my table" (Table 3 - hehe) that night...and another picture came to my mind - of Jesus sitting at the head of the table, right next to Mr. Rawleigh. Every time I smiled at the "guests", I was really smiling at Jesus. When I was striving to do my best to bless them, I was really blessing Jesus. That was an awesome thought - and ever so encouraging! Until...until I think of all of those times when I served, yes, but I served with a bad attitude, or those times I could have served, but didn't "feel like it"...or ignored the need because of selfishness...especially in my very own home, with the people that are nearest to me. Those times when I sighed all through my "duty", or stomped away because I didn't want to do what was asked of me...and now I can see that Jesus was right there...watching me in my bad attitude - probably with tears in his eyes. So, the long and short of this post is to say, I guess, that it might be helpful to remember that Jesus is there...when we are serving with joy and humbleness...or when our mom asks us to dust and we refuse - we are really refusing to bless 2 people: God and our mother. (And we are sneering at any blessing that God may have bestowed upon us.) When we least expect it - we are serving Jesus.