Devotional: Audience of One

Not that I accept human testimony…
John 5:34

How and what we perform is driven by whom we have in the audience of our minds, holding our scorecard.  Jesus knew the Father so well that He played for an audience of One. Contrast the dialogue we have in our minds with the statements of Jesus:

I’ve done pretty well... “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid.”

Even if I say so myself… “There is another who testifies in my favor.” 

It is public knowledge that he is on the XYZ Most Successful list… “Not that I accept human testimony…”

My portfolio speaks for me… “For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me.”

Our speaker tonight is a famous businessperson / athlete / movie star / whatever who just found Jesus last month… “I do not accept praise from men…”

We believe God… “you do not believe the One He sent… how can you believe if you accept praise from one another?”

Once again, what we do and how we do is determined by whom we have in the audience of our minds. Jesus knew the Father so well that He played for an audience of One. If I am to do God’s will His way, then I need to have my old scorecard wiped clean. If I am to rack up eternal accomplishments, then I need success redefined.  And if I am to participate in seeing the marketplace reconciled or realigned with the Kingdom, then I need the principles of the King pressed deeply into me and the precepts of this world extracted from my head and heart.

So be it.

Reflections

• When I do things, perhaps “heroic” things, who is in the audience in my mind?
• How does “the fear of the Lord” keep the right people in the grandstand of my heart?