Jesus Over Everything: Uncomplicating the Daily Struggle to Put Jesus First

by Lisa Whittle

I’m not proud now. I’m embarrassed. For months, God had been readying my heart for Shari’s passing comment to be my moment of cataclysmic conviction. It was not about the amount of money I spent on clothes or items for my home. It wasn’t about if I technically could afford them or if I bought things without going into debt. It was about what I had chosen over God sometimes to numb myself or give myself a high when I was sad or happy or bored. It was about what had become for me a “deadly over”—overindulging my visual wants and cravings and grossly making my life more complicated as a result. My having so many clothes that I didn’t even know what to wear was the small symptom, but the big symptom was the angst, that nagging feeling of being out of control, which led to the cycle of guilt, regret, and justification when shopping. If I’d been honest with myself in so many of the moments I’d hid behind my swiped debit card, Jesus could have helped me. It was in that moment, in my closet with Shari, that I realized how I’d been putting myself over Jesus, even with the silly shopping I usually thought nothing of.