Who Do You Love The Most?

“Who do you love more, Mommy?”

My oldest daughter used to throw this question out at me daily when she was a few years younger.  Only fifteen months separate her and her middle sister; a three year gap between her and her youngest sister. Competition for mom’s attention was fierce in the preschool/toddler days.  (It kinda still is.) She was seeking an edge. A way to one up her little sisters.  Bragging rights of being “Mom’s favorite”.

And moms, we get this question so often from our children! You probably don’t even blink before spouting out, “I love you all the same!” Because, really, we do.  There’s no way you could possibly pick one child over another if you happen to have more than one kiddo in your family. Sure, there might be moments in your day when you might feel a bit closer to one child because perhaps, they were the only one who was behaving well that morning or maybe they were extra cuddly with you that afternoon.  For example, when little Susie dumps a whole bottle of yellow mustard on the neutral carpeting in her bedroom and doesn’t tell anyone. (Ahem, ahem.  Not that I would know from experience.) You may struggle with what just happened, but a second later, she hugs you and all is right again. 

But this time, when my daughter asked me the question, I didn’t give her the usual “mom answer”.  This time I took a minute and with the prompting of the Holy Spirit, I responded...

“Honey, I love Jesus the most.”

She looked at me puzzled. In her mind, Jesus wasn’t even an option. 

“But what about daddy?” she asked me.

“Sweetheart, I love daddy, and you, and your sisters too!  But I love Jesus the most.  Jesus died for me.  Jesus loves me more than you do, more than your sisters do, even more than daddy does! And you know what else?  The Bible tells me that I’m supposed to love Jesus the most.  Because if I don’t keep Jesus first, everything else in my life will fall apart.  I wouldn’t be a good mommy.  And I wouldn’t be a good wife to daddy. And that wouldn’t be good at all, right?”

She looked at me and let it all sink in for a second. 

“Does Daddy know?”

“Yes, baby, he knows.  In fact, Daddy loves Jesus more than he loves me too! And that’s fine with me.  That’s exactly how it should be.”

She pondered this thought for another minute...

“Ok,” my daughter exclaimed and bounced off on her merry way.

How about you ladies?  Who do you love most?  We have been learning at West Ridge through the “Better Together” Series that we need to keep God first, then our husbands, then the kids, and everything else comes after that.  So let me just ask... Is Jesus coming first in your heart?

I’m not perfect.  I struggle sometimes making God a priority when my day is full of running errands, laundry, homework, meal prep, cleaning the house (ok, I’m exaggerating about the cleaning the house part, lol!), sports practices, and sometimes more! But my relationship with God is important to me.  I want to keep Him first.  So if the laundry doesn’t get done because I need to spend some quiet time alone with my Lord, so be it.  The time I spend reading the Word and praying builds my relationship with God, keeping me focused on Him.  And that is not a waste of time in the least.  Just like any relationship, it can’t grow deeper unless you put time into it, making sure to talk and listen, giving it the proper place in your life. 

You know, it’s true, if God doesn’t come first...  If Jesus isn’t #1.... everything else will crumble.  You won’t be the best wife, or mother, or employee... You will not be the best YOU that you can be!  You will be distracted, unfocused, exhausted, ineffective, fearful...  I could go on but I think you get the picture. 

Sweet friends, I want to encourage you today if God isn’t your first love, consider doing some shuffling in your heart.  Your husband, family, career will only benefit from coming up second, third, fourth place to our Savior.  When we seek God first, giving Him the proper place in our lives, HE will take care of the rest!

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you.” Matthew 6:33 (NIV)

Are We Really Enough??

Let’s take a step back in time, shall we?

I remember sitting in a pew as a young girl, maybe around the age 13 or so, as the words caught my ears and settled in my heart. I don’t remember the exact words spoken, but it was a phrase I was quite familiar with growing up in the church. A phrase I would hear over and over again as I sat in church pews, chairs or just gathered with friends. At that time, I didn’t fully understand the words spoken.  Not at 13, not at 16, 21, or even 25. But somewhere along my journey I began to understand them better as I began to know God better.

“We all fall short…”

There is typically more that follows this phrase but it seemed to always stop there for me. I can’t quite explain why my heart wouldn’t hear anything further. I have talked about being a rule follower before, so it could be my proclivity to “being good”? Nonetheless that is where it stopped for me and for a long time this phrase settled in my heart as “I will never measure up, I am not worthy, I am not good enough.” And that is what began replaying in my head.

Now here’s the thing, those words are true. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23 (NIV). When we read this verse or hear it in a sermon, we are asked to look our depravity in the face. Some of us need this. We need to look at our sin head on and confront it. It should help us to see our need for a Savior. But I tend to have reservations about calling one to recognize their depravity. Because, I know there is someone out there who feels the weight of those words and they pick up that weight and carry it themselves. And I know that carrying that weight by their own volition will send them into a spiral. They will either give up under the weight, “If I can never measure up then what is the point?” Or strive harder, “If I am not good enough then I will try harder, do more, be better.” I know this because I have been that person, and I have been on both ends of the spectrum.

I missed the second half of this truth. For a long time… I missed it. I plead with you now to listen to what I am about to share next. Let this truth settle in your heart, maybe in a fresh and new way.

“And all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:24 (NIV) [emphasis mine]

That’s it right there! We fall short yes, but we are enough! You are enough because Jesus made you enough. And this truth, it changed my life.

So let’s fast forward to today...

That phrase “You are enough”, it has carried me through so many trials. It has been my mantra, my go to phrase for probably the last 5-6 years. When I start to slip into to one of those modes, either giving up or striving harder, this phrase serves as a reminder that Jesus calls me, “enough” and I need only to rest in Him.

I have seen this phrase start popping up again around the Christian blog-o-sphere and it is more so being written about in a negative light. The critique I have seen charges, “I am NOT enough,” and it is followed up with, “only Jesus is.” (This is true. What Jesus did though, made us enough.) It urged the Christian reader to no longer use this phrase and tagged it as “worldly”. After reading some of these critiques, it brought me right back to that place as a young girl, teenager and young adult. That place of “If I am not enough then I must try harder.”

What we must remember though, is this... There is no condemnation in Christ!

As with most things, I dug a little deeper. I did have this small moment of panic that maybe I was believing another lie. But this phrase, “You are enough”, it had gotten me through so much. God gave me that nugget when I needed it most and He used it to pull me out of a pit. So then… Was it wrong?

I asked God to show me.  And you know, you can do that too!! Never be afraid to ask and seek.  God is not afraid of our questions.  When you seek Him earnestly, you will find Him! “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” James 1:5 (NIV)

I’d like to share with you what I believe God said to me (in our own little way of communicating).

“You are enough. Everything you have poured out at the end of the day, is enough. Just like the woman who gave her two pennies, you are enough.”

And I thank God for it! Friends, we must test and prove everything. When we ask God to reveal Himself for us, He does.

“But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.  Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”” Mark 12: 42-44 (NIV)

Side note: I’d like to point out that shortly before this verse in Mark, Jesus says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Ch.12 V. 30, NIV) So when God tells me that at the end of each day, everything that I have poured out is enough, I believe him. Each day, I give it everything I’ve got and He calls it enough. Because, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that comes by Christ Jesus!”

Because He is enough, He has made you enough.     

You, my friend, ARE enough!

Post by: Jimmie Lee DiIanni

At His Feet

I’m going to share something a bit personal with you.  I am not fond of feet.  Oh sure, a newborn’s feet are precious.  Tiny little footprints inked onto a birth announcement – adorable!  But aside from babies, I’m not a fan.  And if you are a dude, don’t even show me your latest flip flops, showcasing your manly toes – eeek!!!  No thank you!!!  In fact, I’m not even very happy with my OWN feet these days.  The only thing my tootsies have seen is the inside of my fluffy, soft socks!  My poor toes are in need of a pedicure, desperately. 

So when I would read emails or articles mentioning being “at His feet”, I would usually think, “Ugh... feet!”

One day though, I was reading Beth Moore’s book, “The Beloved Disciple”.  It showcased the disciple whom Jesus loved (John 13:23), John.  John was a fisherman when Jesus found him.  He was one of the sons of Zebedee who jumped out of his boat along with his brother, James, and followed Jesus.  John and James were nicknamed by Jesus the “Sons of Thunder”. (Side note, how awesome of a nickname is that? Sons of Thunder?! Don’t tell me Jesus does not have a sense of humor.)

Listen, don’t get me wrong, Jesus loved His disciples, not just John alone.  But in the Book of John, this is how John is referenced multiple times – the disciple whom He loved.  And as you read through the Book of John, you will see, there was a different bond between Jesus and John than that of which the other disciples had. 

What sticks out most to me is how Jesus and John were so close.  John was so at ease with Jesus that at the Last Supper, he leaned back against Jesus and questioned (at Peter’s urging) who it would be that would betray Him (John 13:23-25).  Later at the cross, Jesus entrusts the care of His mother to John, telling him that she was now John’s mother and John, now Mary’s son (John 19:25-27).  That’s not a responsibility that one would just shrug off to any old person.

I began to think, “Man, that is how close I want to be with Jesus.”  I want to be so close that I can lean in to Him, ask Him anything, and hear every word He says.  Every single word. But I question, “What is stopping me?”

So this brings me back to feet.  Specifically, the feet of Jesus.  There are quite a few instances where Jesus and “feet” come together in the New Testament.  The sick were brought to His feet for healing (Matt. 15:30).  The sinful woman who wet His feet with her tears, wiping them with her hair, and then kissing and perfuming them (Luke 7:38).  Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to Him while annoying her sister, Martha, who chose to toil away in the kitchen (Luke 10:39).  Jesus washed the feet of His disciples (John 13:5). There’s more, but I think you get the idea.

This made me wonder, was I shying away from the feet of Jesus? What was keeping me back, at a distance? Then I realized what it was.  Fear.  Fear of what I might hear.  Fear of being so close, so deeply intimate with my Lord.  Fear of ugliness.  Not my Savior’s, but my own.

You see, when you sit at someone’s feet, there’s a closeness, an intimacy that is established.  At the feet, there is no hiding.  At the feet, you can hear what the person is saying distinctly. At the feet, you are humbling yourself, bowing low, and becoming a servant.  At the feet, love flows. 

I decided that I was no longer going to let fear get in the way of what I loved – my Jesus.  I was no longer going to shy away from His feet, keeping Him at an arm’s length.  Oh no.  I’m all in.  I’ve chosen to push past that fear and lean in.  I want to hear Him clearly.  I want to serve Jesus and love Him.   I want to share in that same closeness that John did.  That amazing relationship filled with intimacy and unending love.

My friends, don’t you? Are you finding yourself sitting at His feet these days or shying away?  Are you leaning in or pushing away?

Ladies, let’s choose to be at the feet of Jesus, here and now!  Let’s follow the example of Mary from Luke 10:39 and allow everything else to melt away for a bit and focus in on Jesus.  Press in and listen.  The Teacher wants to share precious words with you today.  Will you join me as I sit... at His feet?

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:41 (NIV)

Post by: Marcy Gates