Above All Else; Jesus Over Everything

What does it look like to put Jesus first, over everything else? Though that is our desire, it's helpful to be challenged and encouraged with fresh thoughts and perspectives on how to live out this desire. 

Just what could it look like for me? For you? To have Jesus first? Above everything. For each of us, it could look differently, for we are each created uniquely. I love Lisa Whittle's description of life lived in this way:

 "A Jesus-over-everything lifestyle is a 

Jesus-take-over-me-and-my-lifestyle 

so that I don't ruin my one precious life. 

It is the understanding that the 

priority of Jesus brings order to 

the chaos of our lives, 

a job only God is big enough to do."

This highest desire surely calls for us to make intentional daily choices, moment-by-moment choices, a life-time of choices. We cannot coast along and follow the crowd, and expect to live out the high calling of putting Jesus first, over everything.

Some of the choices that I have learned and also continue to learn:

* Making it a priority to immerse myself in His Word, in His Truth. Reading His Words not to be able to check it off my list each day, but with a longing and a deep heart desire to listen closely and to learn from Him. There are so many voices calling for our attention, more and more each year, and it is of utmost importance to keep our minds grounded in what is true. And the source of real Truth is in God's Word.

* Watching closely over my own heart. My heart is key. Pouring out my heart to Jesus is so important. My heart, my thoughts, need to be in right relationship with Jesus. There are so many emotions connected to being a wife, grama, grams, and also sister and friend. And it is critical for me to bring my thoughts, my heart, full of emotions, concerns, needs, to Jesus constinually. Is it the same for you? For me, my main way to communicate all that happens in my heart is through writing my words on a page, written as prayers in a devo journal. This relationship with Jesus is key. For everything flows from the heart.

* Choosing to honor Sabbath Rest, a gift that Jesus modeled while on earth, and also has given to us, even today, for our good. This may look different for each of us. A few hours tucked into a busy week, or as my hubby and I have chosen to do in this season of retirement life, setting aside one day a week for true Sabbath Rest. This happens on most Saturdays for us. This is a gift, a day of refreshment, primarily a time of quiet, slowing down, pausing from our busy lives (yes, even in retirement) to rest, to listen closely, and to learn from Him more deeply. This is probably our favorite day of the week. 

These are just a few of the ways that I am continually being challenged and encouraged in, making intentional choices in keeping Jesus above all else during our daily living. Choices that grow sweeter with each passing year.

We all in our own individual living can find ways "to organize all of your life around the practice of the presence of God, to work and rest and play and eat and drink and hang out with your friends and run errands and catch up on the news, all out of a place of deep, loving enjoyment of the Father's company." (From The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer.)

We have been given the most priceless, incredible gift of His love, His forgiveness, His very presence with us.

Yet through His powerful declaration of acquittal,

God freely gives away His righteousness.

His gift of love and favor now cascades over us,

all because Jesus, the Anointed One,

has liberated us from the guilt, punishment, 

and power of sin.

(Romans 3:24 The Passion Translation) 

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Thanks for reading along as I process through the books I read and the time spent reading His Word, learning and growing towards a life of putting Jesus first, above all else, over everything. And thankful for His Spirit within, speaking Truth to us, as we listen and follow. The life we are made for, the best kind of living!