You have probabbly heard of Lady Gaga's recent hit song "Applause". In this song, Gaga relishes over how her life centers around the applause of men, repeated in the chorus of the song, "I live for the applause"
This makes sense doesn't it? The vast majority of us do it. I do it. How often do we let our hearts, our joy, our peace, be effected by the applause of others?
We make money and we purchase, to be applauded by others.
We work hard, to be applauded by others.
We achieve, to be applauded by others.
We perform, to be applauded by others.
We post of our achievements, our performance, and our work on social media to be seen, to be applauded by others.
How amazed would we be to know how much of our daily lives are influenced by the applause of others.
Sadly though, this system fails.
The applause will stop. It always stops.
One who is famous one day, is old news the next. One day we are on a pedestal, the next we are cast down to nothing.
If your not aware, Lady Gaga's album flopped according to the critics. The album with the lead hit single chorus "I live for the applause" didn't get any applause, but was bashed by the critics.
And this happens to us all. The applause of men is not consistent, and we have all felt the crushing blow of being let down by the opinions of others.
Only the Christian has an answer to this basic problem we all experience.
First, we as Christians base our life not on getting our own applause, but on getting applause for God... or to use biblical language, we bring glory to God... That is our purpose in life. This purpose protects us from living a life based on the shifting opinions of men, but causes us to lean on the purpose of God that will never be thwarted. God will be glorified in the end, and every knee will bow and applaud before Him. (Romans 14:11, 1 Corinthians 10:31)
Secondly, we Christians find our security and our identity in the applause God has for us. We do not live for the applause of men, but the applause of God. And the good news is, if we are in Christ, then we have His righteousness... His perfection... His applause from God. God looks at us everyday in Him, and sees Jesus works and applauds His efforts in us. We get applause, and we will get applause... God will glorify us in the end, and it's a promise (Romans 8:30, Matthew 13:43).
So, I guess it is safe to say... "I live for the applause". But I will settle for nothing less than the "eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison" (2 Cor 4:17). The real applause... The applause for God and the applause that comes from God. That's the only applause that matters.
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