This week we're talking about living for an audience of one, in part two of my look at The Call by Os Guinness (see Ep. 31: What Does it Mean to be Called? for part one). Guinness writes, “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.”
Have you ever been in a conversation and added a comment that seemed innocent at the time, but later you felt convicted about it? And what about defending ourselves? Especially when we feel we've been unjustly accused or insulted. Right or wrong, the flavor and intensity of my response may indicate my focus has shifted away from the Caller.
One danger in today’s world is that we are so connected and easily distracted. And at the same time we are more anonymous than ever. No longer tied to each other in physical community, our personal relationships are often based on what we choose to show to others, not what they see of us in real time, in real life. This can be a great temptation, as we can do or see whatever we want because we can’t be seen or held accountable. The message today seems we can do whatever we want.
Guinness addresses the distortions and dangers of calling. The reverse side of calling, he says, is conceit. Truth can be distorted, and the most effective lie begins with a sliver of truth.
“The closeness between calling and conceit is easy to see. After all, to be called is to hear God whisper three things to you in a hundred intimate ways—“You are chosen; you are gifted; you are special.” Let those three things sink in for longer than the first precious moments and you will inevitably hear another voice, honeyed and smooth: “Yes, you really are chosen . . . gifted . . . special.” - Os Guinness
If we let that second, subversive whisper take hold, we elevate and deceive ourselves. Above others, and even above God, the very One who calls us. This conceit isn’t limited to individuals. Groups and even nations can follow this distorted, malicious whisper. It is the very nobility of calling, Guinness says that makes us vulnerable to pride. Guinness writes, “Temptation tempts most temptingly when it is a shortcut to realizing the very highest at which we aim. So the twisting of our highest aspirations will be twice as evil as the twisting of our lowest.”
We are vulnerable to pride even as we claim the audience of one. Why? Because the audience of one is not God, but ourselves! It is possible to think so highly of ourselves that we look down on others so that we do not care what they think. If the Audience of One is us, we’re in a dangerous place.
What is the remedy for pride? It is grace. When we understand, through grace – that we are called only because of God’s grace. It is not something we’ve earned or purchased for ourselves. We are unable to call ourselves. God does it, It is by his grace alone.
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