When I was a kid, I remember going to football games and hanging out with my friends underneath the bleachers.
I was probably in sixth or seventh grade…
While everybody else was watching the game, there was always a whole other world happening underneath those stands.
Kids running around…
Friends talking…
Laughing…
Probably doing things we weren’t supposed to be doing. ha ha
And honestly, I hadn’t thought about that in YEARS.
But something about that picture hit me recently…
Because when you’re sitting in the stands…
THE GAME IS THE POINT…
Everybody is looking in the same direction…
The lights are on…
The crowd is cheering…
People know the names of the players…
The scoreboard tells you who is winning…
Everything important seems to be happening where everybody can SEE IT.
But underneath the bleachers?
Nobody is watching…
No scoreboard…
No applause…
No spotlight…
And the older I get, the more I realize…
I’m okay living beneath the bleachers…
Not literally. ha ha
But spiritually?
Absolutely…
Because somewhere along the way, we started confusing VISIBILITY with INFLUENCE.
We started believing the person with the biggest platform must be making the biggest difference.
The most followers…
The most views…
The biggest crowd…
The loudest applause…
But Jesus never seemed very impressed with any of that.
In fact, Jesus had an incredible ability to notice the person everybody else walked past.
The blind man beside the road…
The woman at the well…
The children the disciples tried to send away…
Zacchaeus hiding in a tree…
The woman touching the edge of His garment in the middle of a crowd.
Everybody else saw the CROWD…
Jesus saw the PERSON…
And maybe THAT is the difference between having an audience and actually having influence.
Because there is a difference between being an INFLUENCER because of the content of what you post…
…and being influential because of the content of your HEART, your CHARACTER, and the way you genuinely CARE for people.
One makes a POINT…
The other makes a DIFFERENCE…
Views can make you visible…
GOOD CHARACTER makes you influential…
And I think we desperately need to remember that.
Some of the greatest ministry you will EVER do probably won’t happen on a stage.
Nobody will post it…
Nobody will clap…
Nobody will know…
It’ll happen in a hospital room…
At somebody’s kitchen table…
In a text message at midnight…
Sitting with somebody after everybody else has gone home.
Buying somebody lunch…
Praying with someone who is falling apart…
Showing up when there is absolutely NOTHING in it for you.
Jesus said:
“Your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” — Matthew 6:4
I LOVE THAT…
God sees beneath the bleachers…
He sees the conversations nobody else hears…
He sees the generosity nobody announces…
He sees the prayers nobody posts…
He sees the people you love when loving them will never increase your platform.
And maybe heaven’s scoreboard looks completely different from ours.
We count FOLLOWERS…
God sees FAITHFULNESS…
We count VIEWS…
God sees PEOPLE…
We celebrate who is standing underneath the lights…
while heaven may be celebrating somebody nobody knows, quietly kneeling beneath the bleachers handing somebody a sandwich and reminding them that Jesus loves them.
So yeah…
Put somebody else on the field…
Give somebody else the microphone…
Let somebody else have the spotlight…
If there’s somebody hurting beneath the bleachers…
I’m perfectly okay going there…
Because I’m becoming convinced that some of the most important things happening in the Kingdom of God…
are happening where nobody is watching…