Be the Saxaphone Player. Be the real thing.

Me and my girlfriend were scanning the audience as the music started. It was a night of contrast. On one side of us, was a small group of teenagers who were all trying to impress each other and were a little bit annoying. (It's okay though, we photobombed them).

On the other side was a younger guy with his mom and they were both just genuinely enjoying the music.

One group was living real. The other was living fake.

As the night progressed, we saw this pattern unfolding. The real was contrasted with the fake. The heart was contrasted with the head.

The first band was a relatively newer, younger group (Judah the Lion). As they played, we felt the reality of their song. They were fully in. Their hearts were singing. They weren't performing. They were living and loving it. Their hearts were alive and as we listened, we noticed that the crowd responded with their hearts.

The second band (Parachute) had been around for a while. They did all the right things. They performed "well". They were "energetic". They didn't miss a note. They mastered the mechanics of the performance.

And nobody cared a lick.

Their hearts weren't in what they were doing and the entire crowd knew it. I don't know how we knew it, but we knew it.

See, we didn't go to the concert to hear music or see a performance. We went to feel alive. We went to be free. We went because we wanted to live from our hearts in that moment. And Parachute just wasn't doing it.

Except for that guy in the picture...the saxophone player. It wasn't just that he was talented. He was the only guy up there still playing from his heart. It was a beautiful thing. He didn't let his band hold him back from being free. He was living from his heart and letting it shine.

I realized in that moment, that I wanted to live like that saxophone player. Most of the world we live in can't do it or won't do it. But as someone who trust's in Jesus, I have that liberty. I know that God's grace has freed me from all guilt and all punishment for anything my heart does or has done; and in that freedom, my heart wants to live out love out loud! It's like God's mercy gave me a new heart (because God actually did!). A heart that's free and courageous in a world that's predictable, mechanical, and afraid.

So let me encourage you: Be the saxophone player in your Parachute world today. Trust Jesus from your heart and be free. You were made to live that way. And when people see it, they'll know that's the way they want to live too.

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and honor your Father in heaven."