Performance what does it mean to you and how does it relate to our relationship with the Triune God? All of us at some time in our lives try to perform to the best of our abilities to be someone other than our true self for reasons we only know hidden deep in our hearts. Most of us are trying to fill a hole in our heart and we use performance to fill that hole. We lie and hurt others to achieve a performance rating that does not slip below our own expectations, but we are only impressing ourselves.
We end up hurting those relationships that help to fill in our hole. When performance is realized and we are still feeling empty inside, our hole in our heart continues to grow bigger. In some instances, we try to impress others (as our other person) to show that we are good enough to be loved and accepted by them.
Many of us try desperately to have a performance of a lifetime knowing behind every corner there is someone judging us. Judging by their standards on how we should be as a person. We labor in vain, needing to be loved, liked and to live, only to feel not good enough. Feeling unworthy, unloved and unaccepted. It is not wrong to have goals or to be successful, but It is wrong if we stomp on others to achieve those goals.
This is about our spiritual state in relationship with God and others and the love and acceptance that we yearn for. Many Of us, Christian and non-Christian alike, (including myself) have fallen into a distorted theory or theology of God. Our eyes have been veiled from truth. Has the Triune God turned his back on us? Do we have to jump through hoops to get his attention? Are we performing at the top of our game? The Father sent the Son to save the World. John 3:17 “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him”. The Son saves us, not our performance.
We do not have to have a performance of a lifetime to be in his presence or to be accepted and loved by him. The Father has been revealed through the Son. There is no Jekyll and Hyde or good cop bad cop. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one and God is love. God’s judgment and wrath are worked out in his love. I always felt that God did not accept me unless I did this, this, and this. I never felt I was good enough. Sadly, there are many hurting people who think the same way. They are always living in fear that if they slip up once all hell is going to fall on them. Paul says in Romans 8:1 [ Life through the Spirit] “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”.
The Triune God wants to share with us the fellowship, relationship, and community within their oneness and help us realize our freedom from our burdens Galatians 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Sin no longer has hold on us. We do not have to perform to earn anything. “We are not judged by our previous performances (on that basis, nobody would go anywhere but to hell); rather, we are judged by what Jesus did on the cross.” (Capon, Kingdom, Grace, Judgment: Paradox, Outrage and vindication in the parables of Jesus).
Life certainly has its bumps and bruises and no matter how hard you try to shake them those bruises continue, or new ones begin, but Joy can be found in our pain. Jesus the son is always with you in your joy and pain. He is there when you are feeling like a failure and when you are feeling all alone. He is there when you think you need to use performance to get acceptance. He is not only there for you, but he lives in you. Galatians 2:20 says ” I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
We must trust this truth and not fear what are religions are feeding us. Jesus Christ is our righteousness. We are accepted, we are loved, and we are redeemed. There is no need for a performance of a lifetime or a lifetime of performing. We are a new creation that is adored by Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Robert Farrar Capon puts it this way (loved baking) “we are as good as baked to perfection right now. We have been accepted in the beloved.” (Capon, Kingdom, Grace, Judgment: Paradox, Outrage and vindication in the parables of Jesus).
If we all knew who we truly are there would be no need for our substitute. Would we not have a different paradigm of others if we saw them as they truly are? Would we not see our self in a different light? Would we not stop judging ourselves? Would not relationships be a whole lot easier? The walls that held everyone out would be torn down, we would be free to be who we are in Christ.
As a child I always enjoyed singing the children song
“He’s got the whole world in his hands.” Truth comes in small packages. We are all in the arms of our creator. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit will never stop he is relentless in his pursuit of you. Performance of a lifetime what does it mean? It means nothing in attaining a relationship with God; a relationship that already exists whether you believe it or not.
It is not about trying to do good on our own, because Jesus has transformed and is continuing to transform us. Jesus is our Justification and our sanctification. We are a New creation in him. Live out of that truth and good will flow out of you like living water.
We are accepted and loved by the Triune God and no performance, good or bad, can change this truth. The hole in our hearts can’t be filled by trying to be something we weren’t meant to be. Goodness and our ability to do good comes from God.
Truth comes in many shapes and sizes. Don’t be fooled by Fake News into believing you have to try to be perfect to be loved. Jesus is our perfection. Go and live life in the freedom of knowing that you are loved. Trust God to transform you and live a life worth living.
OJ! Overwhelming Joy 