We need to live for and serve the Audience of One!
Another gem from Mark Batterson's blog:
Earlier this week I read an article with one little quip that I cannot get out of my spirit: the only applause we are meant to seek is that of nail-scarred hands.
It was so inspiring and so convicting. We care so much about our reputation. We care so much about our approval ratings. We care so much about what people think. But we need to die to those things. I know this sounds counter-intuitive, but we don't really care for people until we don't care what they think. We can't really help them until we've been crucified to their opinions. Only then do we preach with an anointed boldness.
I have a distant memory from many years ago when I didn't feel good about a message and my wise wife asked me a brilliant question: did you say what God wanted you to say? That is the only litmus test when it comes to preaching. Was God pleased with my message? Unfortunately, many of us measure our messages by human applause.
May we be deafened to human applause. After all, the only applause we are meant to seek is that of nail-scarred hands.
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