God Creates Without an Audience. Why Can’t We?

Recently, I stepped outside and was met with deer moving through the tree line, an eagle cutting across the grey sky, squirrels doing what squirrels do, cardinals flashing red against the brush, and more wildflowers and flora than I could name. It was stunning.

And I thought, God didn't make this only for me to see. He was already doing this long before I walked out the door.

He doesn't gather an audience for his performances. He doesn't wait for someone to pull out their phone. He doesn't need the validation of a witness. Somewhere right now, in a hollow no human will ever visit, wildflowers are blooming in full color, opening, dying, and returning to the soil, and the only one who will ever see them is the one who made them.

God simply displays his grandeur and creative beauty through creation, whether anyone else sees it or not. His greatness requires no affirmation. His grace needs no applause. He creates because he is creative, and that is entirely enough for him.

The Quiet Second Motive

That realization sat heavily on me.

Because I cannot always say the same thing about myself.

If I'm honest about my own writing, and this is the kind of honesty that stings a little, there is almost always a quiet second motive humming underneath the work. A hope that more people will read it. A flicker of something when the numbers go up. A desire, however subtle, to have what I've made seen.

I want to write for God, but I also want people to know I wrote something worth reading.

Those two things are not the same, and I struggle with it more than I'd like to admit.

Father, I acknowledge that I bolster my persona through others' accolades.

The Unstable Foundation of Recognition

The work of challenging leaders toward health, which is the calling I feel most clearly, cannot be fueled by the recognition that work might generate.

Accolades from others can feel like confirmation that you're on the right path, which is fine, but if left unchecked, it can be a terribly unstable foundation.

People's opinions shift. Audiences grow distracted. The affirmation dries up, and then what?

If the source of your strength is what people think of you, you are in danger of living a very shallow and terribly anxious life.

Rootedness: The Invisible Work

This is where the deeper work of rootedness comes in.

Paul writes in Colossians 2:6–7 (NIV): "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness."

The image is agricultural, and it's intentional. The tree draws nutrients from the soil, which are invisible to anyone watching from the outside, but they determine everything about the health of what grows above ground.

When our roots are in God, our nourishment, our value, and our sense of worth all come from that invisible source. Not from what we produce. Not from what others say about what we produce. From him.

The Identity Trap Leaders Fall Into

This is harder than it sounds, because our culture has a sophisticated system for convincing us that what others see us do is who we are.

We introduce ourselves by our titles, and we often measure our significance by our output.

And when the output slows, or the audience shrinks, or the role disappears, the bottom drops out, because we built our identity on a foundation that was never designed to hold that weight.

A Different Paradigm

But true rootedness requires a different paradigm entirely, one where God is far more interested in the person you are becoming than in the work you are accomplishing.

You are his workmanship, his masterpiece, regardless of your current title or output or how many people are paying attention.

That does not shift with your performance metrics.

The Starting Line, Not the Finish Line

Understanding your identity in Christ is not the finish line.

It is the starting line.

We must be securely rooted in God, drawing strength not from our clarity about who we are, but from our ongoing, daily relationship with the one who made us.

Belief in him, and in who he created us to be, and in what he created us to do, that is what produces a life that overflows with genuine thankfulness rather than quiet anxiety about how it's all being received.

The Freedom Leaders Are Actually Looking For

God puts on a display for no one, and it is glorious.

The wildflowers bloom without witnesses.

The eagle hunts without an audience.

As I learn to write, and lead, and create, and serve, with that same freedom, I find that the work itself becomes something entirely different.

Not a performance looking for a crowd.

Just faithfulness, offered to the one who was watching all along.

A Prayer

Father, may I not just write this, but also live this.

Thank you for your mercy and grace, which I need daily. Thank you for your forgiveness and love, which is entirely undeserved.

You pour out your concern for me continually. In times when my head, heart, or hands go where they shouldn't, your gracious Spirit assures me of your presence and power, so that I can be different in the future. Amen.

If you’re unsure where your leadership is being driven by performance vs identity, take our Leadership Health Check-Up.