The Eye in the Sky

Chapter 9
Standouts

"Most of us, whether we are aware of it or not, do things with an eye to the approval of some audience or other. The questions is not whether we have an audience but which audience we have."

"A life lived listening to the decisive call of God is a life lived before one audience that trumps all others - the Audience of One."

"To follow the call of God is therefore to live before the heart of God. It is to live life coram deo (before the heart of God) and thus to shift our awareness of audiences to the point where only the last and highest - God - counts."

"I wonder how far Moses would have gone if he had taken a poll in Egypt." -Harry Truman

"General Charles Gordon, peerless military strategist, legendary commander, and mostly all-conquering victor, lived so closely before the Audience of One that when his time came, he had only a short step home. Like all for whom God's call is decisive, it could be said of him, 'I live before the Audience of One. Before others I have nothing to prove, nothing to gain, nothing to lose.'"

Matthew 6:1-4 was the scripture focus with the question, "Why does Jesus require that our good deeds be done in secret?"

Most of the time I can do the good deed in secret. But what I'd really like is for the reward/blessing to be the marching band, the round of applause, the confetti. And what if God's blessing in secret is stuff like patience, kindness, mercy and grace - stuff I will live out and give out. Thinking that way really reveals that I have not lived before the heart of God. But as Jesus refocuses me to remember who it was that gave me reason and purpose for living, I live and serve, love and give before the Audience of One, the Eye in the Sky. The driving motivation of my life will be to honor the Caller.