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

by Lisa Whittle

But Jesus does us the biggest favor when He puts a stop to things that are secretly chipping away at us.

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.

I felt God becoming more important to me than my momentary need to fix myself with something that will never fix me.

wish our motives as humans were driven by sheer purity, but that’s not how it typically goes. Discomfort is more likely our change agent, and I’m grateful Jesus accepts our meager starts, isn’t snobby about our growth processes, and sticks around as we grow into rightly placed passion for Him.

The truth is, I can’t choose my way over Jesus’ way anymore because I can’t afford the scars.

Jesus-over-everything lifestyle is a Jesus-take-over-me-and-my-lifestyle so I don’t ruin my one precious life. But even more than that, it’s the understanding that the priority of Jesus brings order to the chaos of our lives, a job only God is big enough to do.

That is, our deepest affections (whatever it might be that we focus on most devotedly) shapes the way we believe and, in turn, the way we live. In a cultural ecosystem where we seem to worship possibilities, where freedom is understood as the absence of limitation upon our choices, and where the virtue of good multitasking has replaced the virtue of singleness of heart, it is understandable that we are both truly and metaphorically “all over the place”—mentally, spiritually, even bodily, in a state of perpetual possibility-seeking.1

It’s not even enough to pray about things if we believe that releasing our burdens recuses us from next steps and we expect Jesus to do all the work from there.

We beg God for help in the midst of a life with a mixed-up order of priorities and wonder why things aren’t working; yet when we put Him over all the things on our list, myriad complications fall away. If you’ve ever done this, even in one decision, you know it’s true.

Despite our temporary feelings, there are three things that make our lives not work in the long term: 1. too many options 2. getting away with something that is not good for us 3. trying to handle everything ourselves

Every sinner grows weary enough eventually, and we want permanent deliverance—not just sips that get us by. It’s a matter of how dehydrated we allow ourselves to become while on the journey. Admitting that something that isn’t hurting us visibly is a sin is perhaps the hardest leap to make. Deflection is far easier, and a lot of us are experts.

We like options until they make life too complicated. We like doing what we want until our choices make matters worse. We like our independence until we need to be taken care of.

What we actually need is for God to adjust the lives we have by taking over and running things.

We can’t be first because if we were, we would make the wrong decision, we would give someone bad advice, we would quit before we should, we would hang on to something we need to let go of and vice versa, we wouldn’t be able to keep the world spinning, we wouldn’t be able to prevent tragedies or pull off redemption, and we couldn’t save anyone from their sins.

When we are tempted to take back authority in our lives, Jesus first. When we forget how much we have made a mess running things, Jesus first.

When we start to think we might just want to take another crack at it and see how it goes, Jesus first. Right now, • look at all Jesus has done for you. • remember who He is. • decide if that is worth making Him number one.

apologize for everything. I overbook myself because I don’t want to let people down. I get in my head and go down so many negative mental roads. I constantly feel the need to explain myself.

We do some of these things because we are under a false assumption of emotional martyrdom as if the overdoing is in some way producing the humility and selflessness we can’t seem to otherwise find. But let me make this clear: these things are not spiritual.

I’ve been like the Ephesians, forgetful of my first love (Revelation 2:4).

Before Jesus can be over everything, we have to allow Him to remove from our lives what has thus far only complicated them.

Half my life had been spent apologizing for things I needed not apologize for—while, at the same time, holding back from the truly necessary “I’m sorrys”—because pride had fooled me into thinking my false humility was actually the real thing.

I realized that in so many ways, my apologizing was not only unnecessary but also self-serving. It was not humble; it was humiliating. It lifted no one. It was not about God. It was about the emotional slums of humanity—me wanting to serve me, me wanting to get people to like me, me wanting to ease someone else’s jealousy, me wanting to do work only God should do in all of us, the work only He can do.

Wisdom is not about never apologizing. It’s about sincere apology when it’s right.

may we all be better accepters without demanding explanations.

As a creative, overanalyzing can cause me such pain because nothing is ever good enough—perfection creeps in, doubt takes over, and before I know it, I have become paralyzed by the thoughts in my head that don’t have merit.

Giving in to our temporary wants in light of the treasures of heaven isn’t worth it. What we’ve gotten, most of the time, in return for our liberties is wild dissatisfaction and pain.

“Overwork is unbelief.”3 It might, at first, be hard for us to make that mind-set leap—shrugging off the lighthearted suggestion from others that we are a workaholic or seeing our online hobby grow into a business we never intended to start—to the thought that our overworking is, in fact, not fully trusting in the promises of God.

But in the face of God asking me to cut some things out of my schedule and my subsequent fear that my lesser work production could result in disappointment to other people, He prompted this question: Do you really want to be known as the woman who can produce?

As I considered God’s question, I had to face the fact that at the core I was putting my work over trust and belief in Him.

Sanctification over production every single day of the week.

Hard workers can become workaholics, content creators can become discontented, and influencers can become influenced by the need to produce before we know it, so Alli’s wisdom was important: “When it becomes about you trying to earn worth through your work, you know it’s gone too far.”

“When the people around you that love you start telling you it’s too much, it’s too much.”

What’s at the core of the issues you spend the most time cleaning up? Is it because of your overapologizing or overexplaining? Are your messes due to your overindulgences or overworking? Are you overanalyzing your situation, and your mind is a mess? I propose this with deep understanding: Jesus wasn’t over everything in your life, or it wouldn’t have been so.

Let’s choose the Jesus-over-everything life, together, and as we do, imperfect as it will be, I’m praying that the Lord will guide us. I’m asking Him to point out the pitfalls and awaken us to the scorpions waiting to sting and help us keep our eyes on the land where we’ve chosen to live, never looking at the other land we think is better because Satan, in that moment, is using some kind of filter to brighten up those weeds. I

Real over pretty. Love over judgment. Holiness over freedom. Service over spotlight. Steady over hype. Wisdom over knowledge. Honesty over hiding. Commitment over mood.

THEIR JOY WILL BE IN DOING WHAT’S RIGHT AND BEING THEMSELVES, AND NOT IN BEING AFFIRMED BY OTHERS. —GALATIANS 6:4 TPT

But it’s time to grow out of our obsession with ourselves and pursue identity with God, who created us, who cannot contradict His very nature to be exactly who He is. Self-focus has broken us in our reluctance to lift our gaze.

Behind every smiling moment, there are things happening that only God knows about and weeps over, and the pressure we put on ourselves to be amazing in the midst too often stifles necessary personal lament.

N. T. Wright said: “The authenticity that really matters is living in accordance with the genuine human being God is calling you to become.”

Too often the unfinished us is blind to what the Spirit-shaped us can be over time. Lies have felt true, damning, and permanent. We aren’t weak for falling for them. We are human. But we need to put the truth of Jesus over them now.

real is the best pretty because it doesn’t ask you to lie.

There might be nothing more detrimental to a soul (think: a deadly over) than daily overanalyzing how we appear to others and overworking to control it. Choosing real over pretty is choosing to free our souls from the grip of an overfocus on self—something that is the root cause of most of our distresses.

Choosing real is choosing Jesus because it’s trusting His creative instincts that we were made good.

If God accepts our real self, there is no one left to matter. We don’t get prettier before we come to God; we get more stripped down, humble, and repentant. One is born of performance. The other is born of truth.

Jesus is worth the loss of everything you know deep down isn’t sustainable but hate to let go.

Sugarcoating the real stuff that bonds us in our humanity robs us of community.

There is no one safer than Jesus. No worry of betrayal, no worry He will turn His back and walk away. He’s never told a thing I’ve told Him. He’s never been absent when I needed Him most. We may never feel safe with anyone else, but we can always feel safe with Jesus.

No one, including you or me, is ever really drawn to Jesus by experiencing judgment.

“Just love everyone. I will sort them all out later.—God.”

A life of judgment never fulfills and results in feelings of loneliness and resentment. It may be easier to choose judgment, but it’s healthier to choose love.