Jesus First

I was thinking about choices again. We are faced with a lot of choices every day – some big, some little, some simple and some that we just struggle over.

As a teacher I get asked thousands of questions a day that I must make choices over. Can I go to the bathroom? Can I go get water? Can I borrow a pencil? Can I have some paper? Can I go to the bathroom now? Choices!

I can think of some choices I’ve agonized over – ones I’ve cried over, lost sleep over, discussed with others and prayed with my face to the ground over. I think God puts some choices in front of us to build our Christian character – and maybe those choices are more for us because He knows the choice we will make from the beginning. He knows our heart.

Just like the other night with Jeffrey and his baseball choice. I told him he could skip camp and VBS but even when I told him that, I knew he wouldn’t. I knew what he would o, but he had to go through the struggle in order to come out stronger in his Christian stand on the other side. And, I believe he did because he feels good about his decision and knows it was the right thing. Next time he has to make a decision like that, it will be easier. He knows where he stands now. I knew all along but now he knows. That is important. I believe God gives us those kinds of choices all the time so that we will know where we stand.

I thought about Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 22. When God told Abraham to take Isaac and sacrifice him, Abraham had a choice. He didn’t have to do that. He could have stayed right there and said, “Surely, I can’t do that LORD.” But, verse 3 says, “Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddles his donkey.” He got up early because he didn’t sleep all night for thinking about his choice. The Bible doesn’t show us his struggle, but don’t you know he must have worried all night – cried, prayed, pleaded perhaps.

God didn’t announce – do this Abraham because I’m testing you. That would have been too easy. “A test? Oh! I can do this!” Abraham would have said. Nope! God didn’t tell Abraham that and he doesn’t tell us either. He just gives it to us. There it is. You choose.

Oh, the agony of it. I think, however, we make it harder on ourselves than it has to be. Psalms 37:5-6 says, “Commit your way to the LORD, trust in Him and He will do this – He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.” Commit your way to the LORD! It’s really that simple. That’s what God wants us to do. He wants us to know where we stand, what we’ll choose and that our choice is HIM. Our choices for Him build us as Christians.

David, our Youth Minister, has a simple saying that keeps us focused on mission trips: “Jesus first!” That’s his motto we stick to while we’re out on the mission field. Our decisions and our choices are made simpler with “Jesus first!” in mind. Our daily schedule is based on this. The order of activities is based on this. We live around “Jesus first!” every day.

If we would look at every choice with the “Jesus first!” motto in mind, how much easier would things be? Consider some every day choices we have:
Sunday school or sleep in?
Jesus first!
Lottie Moon offering or buy that extra Christmas gift?
Jesus first!
Going fishing today or help with the mission project?
Jesus first!

See how easy that could be? The problem is . . . it isn’t easy. We lose our focus, get caught up in other stuff and then our choices seem difficult. The more we choose Jesus, the firmer our stance becomes, the stronger we grow. I’m not suggesting here that you can’t sleep in some days or buy an extra gift or go fishing but, those things shouldn’t interfere with what we do for Jesus. Jesus first!

We definitely have choices to make in life. Let’s be strong in the LORD and always choose Jesus first!


Dear LORD, I know that sometimes I look on a choice that should be simple and just agonize over it. Would you please strengthen me? Give me eyes to see my choices clearly, without the rose-colored glasses of the world. Make my decisions always be for You. Let it be simple for me so that I may, with ever increasing strength, always choose Jesus first, without even having to ponder. Let Jesus be my default. I truly want to live this way. Help me LORD! I ask this in the might name of my Jesus . . . .