The Seduction of the Stage

When Trisha and I started marriage counseling, one term that kept coming up in our counseling sessions was the term “the seduction of the stage.”

As we talked about this phrase, we discovered how easy it is for us to live for the applause of others rather than for the approval of God. It is a subtle shift that happens in our life that we don’t recognize until we begin altering our values. These values were once driven by a desire to please God, but slowly drift to impressing others; convincing others how great we are, proving to others how worthy we are.

During this time, we began reading a book called Abba’s Child by Brennan Manning. I highly recommend it. In the book Manning says this:

“Sanctity lies in discovering my true self, moving toward it, and living out of it… While the impostor draws his identity from past achievements, and the adulation of others, the true self claims its identity in its belovedness. We give glory to God simply by being ourselves.”

That statement hit me like a ton of bricks. “We give God glory by simply being ourselves.” For so many years I had felt like “myself” was never good enough. It wasn’t good enough for my dad; it wasn’t good enough for my basketball coach; it wasn’t good enough for my professors; it wasn’t good enough for Trisha; it wasn’t good enough for the people that came to my church. Inadequacy had a grip on my heart:

• If I could not mess up as much, I’d be good enough for my dad.
• If I could score more points or get more rebounds then I’d be good enough for my coach.
• If I could excel at basketball enough, I could impress more girls or be more popular with people to whom I constantly felt inferior.
• If I could write better papers and get better grades then I could be good enough for my college professors
• If I could be a better husband and be a better dad then I could finally feel like who I am is good enough for Trisha.
• If I could preach better sermons and think up creative services and if next week’s message could top last weeks, then more people will come to my church. If more people come, then I’ll be more important and I’ll finally feel worthy to lead this church.

At some point, I created this belief system that thought if I could achieve enough, receive enough applause and impress people enough, I would finally be comfortable being “myself”.

Living this way will never lead to you and I being ourselves…it only leads us to be performers; performers who are seduced by the stage. It is subtle and it is incremental, and it is exhausting.

So today, I just want to tell you that you don’t have to be more than you are right now to impress God. You don’t have to be better than you are right now to receive God’s affection.

All of the false parts of yourself that you wear to try to impress others and gain the applause of others aren’t needed for you to be loved by your Heavenly Father.

Live in your belovedness today!

Have there been times in your life where you have been seduced by the stage and found yourself performing?