“The approval you are looking for isn’t found on stage. It’s found in the freedom not to need it.”
Loren Thornburg
We long for approval, we even perform for it, but life is not a performance. Before performers get on stage they make sure everything is just right. From makeup, to wardrobe, to lighting and sound it all has to be just right to create the perfect performance. Although people may be watching you, your life was not meant to be lived like a stage. You weren’t meant to have to always look perfect or have everything around you appear just right. Yet, sometimes we live like that. We think we have to have it all together. As nice as that might sound it’s too much work and pressure. It’s just not real life to be on stage all of the time. So clear the stage of your life. Let go of the masks, the trying to be something you’re not and let the real you out. You just might find that freedom is what you’ve been looking to find. Whatever the audience that you’ve been looking to impress, you don’t have to anymore. You can be you in all of your imperfections and that’s enough.
“…You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.”
Matthew 22:37-38 NLT
The first and greatest commandment from the Lord is to love Him. It is not to work hard, have it all together, and never show your weakness. Instead it is to love the Lord with everything you’ve got. So it seems that God’s greatest concern is not for me to have it all together, but rather to love Him with all that I am. I find freedom and approval in this commandment. He knows that the growth He desires and the love for others He desires will come as I pursue Him. He has never been about having it all together first. His first has always been to love Him. What we find when we love Him is that He is already loving us for all that we are, exactly as we are and that is enough. It’s not about performance with Him. It never has been. It’s about letting the One who says, ‘You are enough’ be enough too. No performance has ever been needed. So clear the stage and let Him have His way.
Check out Jimmy Needham’s Clear the Stage:
Clear the stage and set the sounds and lights ablaze if
that’s the measure you must take to crush the idols
Jerk the pews and all the decorations too, until the
congregations few that have revival
Tell your friends that this is where the party ends,
until your broken for your sins you can’t be social
Seek the Lord and wait for what he has in store, and
know that great is your reward so just be hopeful,
Cause you can sing all you want to
Yes you can, sing all you want to
You can sing all you want to and still get it wrong
Oh worship is more than a song
Take a break from all the plans that you have made, and
sit home alone and wait for God to whisper
Beg him please to open his mouth and speak and pray for
real upon your knees until they blister
Shine the light on every corner of your life until the
pride, and lust, and lies are in the open
Then read the word and put to test the things you’ve
heard until your heart and soul are stirred and rocked
and broken
We must not worship something that’s not even worth it
Clear the stage, make some space, for the one who
deserves it
Anything I put before my God is an idol
Anything I want with all my heart is an idol
Anything I can’t stop thinking of is an idol
And anything that I give all my love is an idol
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