Audience of One

Who are you really?

Do people see the real you? Or a version of you?

Do they see your soul or just the mask you wear to impress them?

I have a personal and very strong conviction to live with authenticity before an Audience of One.

I have not mastered it, but I want to.

Authenticity makes people uncomfortable while simultaneously making them want what you have.

It makes them uncomfortable because it is like holding up a mirror that reveals flaws, weaknesses, and insecurities.

I feel very confident saying that many people are not living authentically. In this world of fakebook and social chaos, performance is the norm. The ME culture has unfortunately created an army of clones.

This selfie society has caused the true self to disappear.

How has this affected life as we know it?

Much of life is now done online - including business, community, connection, and relationships. This is not all bad, but there are some aspects of it that need to be kept in balance in order for authenticity to truly shine.

Busy Busy Busy … with constant and chronic distractions …and no time to Be Still … turns Jack (and Jill) into robots instead of more authentic human BEINGS. Sometimes we just have to BE. Authenticity requires it actually.

If you run 100mph in your season and have grace for that … good for you! Go go go! But if someone else is in a totally different season … give them grace for their pace. After all, isn’t this what God does for us? He doesn’t look at our walk with Him and say, “Hurry up, you’re wasting My time.” (even writing that brings tears to my eyes)

No … He is extraordinarily patient and kind with us. He meets us right where we are on the way to where we are going. He accepts us fully, And He loves us deeply and unconditionally every step of the way.

Authenticity is the fruit of living life before an Audience of One.

When you follow the One who has a good plan for your life (Jeremiah 29:11), and you choose to walk with Him - moment by moment, day by day - your pace will emerge. It may not be the same pace as someone else, but that is because you are running a different race! God instructs you with the pace you need for your race, not for someone else’s.

He orders your steps, and He leads you forward, with details and instructions for the plans and purpose He ordained for YOU.

If you notice your life becoming eerily similar in every aspect to someone else’s, perhaps there is an invitation to slow down and re-evaluate. Recalibrate. Reconsider.

Ask yourself, “Who am I really? What are the deepest desires of MY heart? Am I living in freedom according to the way God made me or am I trying to prove myself to someone based on their desires or plans for my life? Who does GOD say I am?”

You are unique. There will never be another you. If you don’t shine the way God intended, the world will never experience the beautiful aspects of the nature and character of God that only you embody and reveal.

I don’t know who this is for … but I cried as I was thinking about this. People are so quick to judge others, to put them in a box, to assume they know it all, to overstep and try to control another person’s life and destiny.

I know this … God’s leadership is perfect. I have heard it said, “The devil pushes, and God leads.” There is a very big difference.

God will gently take your hand and draw you forward. The enemy will make you feel erratic, stressed, and overwhelmed.

Recognizing the difference and allowing God to lead releases authenticity.

The enemy wants you to wear yourself out keeping up with the Jones’. God wants you to be authentically you and build according to His blueprint for your life.

If we are truly living for an Audience of One, we will treat people with honor and respect - regardless of where they are on their unique journey - because we care more about His plans, purposes, and thoughts towards us than we do about the opinions of man.

How would you live differently if everything you said and did was truly unto Him alone? If the addiction to applause, acceptance, and approval was not there, how would you speak? How would you act? How would you treat people?

Fearing God more than man opens the heart in a powerful way. Authenticity is born in that place.

In that place, you are finally free to love, whether people love you back or not. You can give with no expectation of receiving. You can build and become without “worrying” about the outcome.

Why? Because you have an Audience of One … and He is perfect and holy. He celebrates you, He delights in you, He helps you, He speaks life over you, and He believes in you … way more than you believe in Him.

So look up, Child. And look within. Your authentic self is ready to shine.

What if you didn’t have anything to prove to anyone on earth, and you just walked with God … like Noah … like Enoch, who also happens to be the only person in the Bible who seemingly didn’t die. He walked so closely with God that one day he just stayed with Him (Genesis 5:21-24).

If Noah cared what everyone else thought, He never would have made it through 100 years of building an Ark on dry land. (Read that again.)

The fulfillment of your purpose is dependent on you walking with God, being authentically YOU, and moving forward every single day regardless of what anyone else says, thinks, or feels towards you. The ones who are supposed to be with you … will be.

There is so much joy and fulfillment in walking with Him. He gives you instructions. He confirms what to do and when to do it.

Sometimes He will scrap your plan altogether and take you in a totally different direction. And guess what … that’s okay, too … His way is always better.

I started writing this post a week ago and have been sitting on it, meditating on it, and considering it for my own life first.

Eyes on the prize! FOCUS forward. Jesus first. Everything else follows.

Audience of One.