Christmas is over. The activity, the hustle, the adrenaline, the work, it’s all finished and that can be so satisfying. It’s good to just sit in this moment, isn’t it? Though, if we are honest, we would admit that we don’t tend to sit for too long before wondering what we are going to do next time.
After all, today’s society is content driven, is media focused, and is addicted to the dopamine hits found from surfing the latest news, information, opinions, and artistic content. If you’re reading this you likely identify with the difficulty of getting a message out in the increasingly crowded space of content creators and content outlets, online or in-venue. And in that difficulty lies one of the worst production distractions that we can face.
We aren’t as much stagehands for His production as we are the ushers who merely point to the stage and rave about the show that He produced.
It’s easy to get so focused on cutting through, to get so focused on the programming, and to get so focused on how we can be better than last year, that we forget that God doesn’t actually need us. His ability to be God of the universe, His ability to impact lives, and His own ability to get His message out is not dependent on any of us for success. His sovereignty is sufficient according to His purposes. We aren’t as much stagehands for His production as we are the ushers who merely point to the stage and rave about the show that He produced. For even the heavens and the earth, and all of his creation, attest to His glory and His presence. (Psalm 19:1-6, Romans 1:20). In scripture’s description of the Pentecost in Acts 2, it describes the Holy Spirit as coming upon the people and causing everyone to hear in their own language the teaching of the Apostles. I would argue that this was one of the greatest productions in the history of man’s existence. It was done by God directly and without any man-centered capability or tools that tend to get so much of our focus today.
…it can be exceedingly easy to mis-order our production motivations, and worse yet, the ordering of our individual response to God.
Indeed, God does not need us. But rather, He wants us and wants to have relationship with us, individually and personally. Oh, so much the better! It is out of that relationship that He gave us the great commission in Matthew 28 (to spread this news to others). That is, God’s desire for us, at an individual level comes first, and out of that comes the commission, and out of that comes the work. God didn’t give the commission to people who were not already followers, He didn’t elevate the work over the relationship, and He surely didn’t elevate the workers’ work over His sovereign ability to accomplish the task. This is modeled in the story of Mary and Martha (Luke 10) where Jesus emphasizes closeness with him over the activities associated with Him. And that is where we get back to the afore mentioned distraction.
In the quietness of the post-Christmas season, I encourage all of us to sit for a bit and take stock of where we are, as individuals, in relation to God, our motivations, and our production goals.
In grappling with the idea of cutting through society’s content clutter, in the attractiveness of bigger and better productions, and in the chase of ‘excellence,’ it can be exceedingly easy to mis-order our production motivations, and worse yet, the ordering of our individual response to God.
In the quietness of the post-Christmas season, I encourage all of us to sit for a bit and take stock of where we are, as individuals, in relation to God, our motivations, and our production goals. Let’s commit that our motivations always follow our calling, and that our calling always follows our relationship with our Creator. Well-motivated and well-targeted production comes only after leaning into our relationship with Christ. Hold onto Jesus tightly, hold onto production lightly, and keep watch for what He will do.
