Hello my sweet friends,
It's early morning when I'm writing this, at least for us here at My House. We're more get started at 10-11 AM kind of folks. We don't do a lot of "early mornings" here. But there is such a sweetness to it, isn't there? About the quiet of an early morning. I think Jesus was that way, always sneaking away before the others were up to have quiet, early morning talks with His Father. What better time to write this to you?
I know this digital curated collection is nothing compared to Gab's getups because, y'all, aren't they dreamy? She has such a gift and a talent for decorating. She can turn something from blah to ta-dah in only minutes, it seems, and that is such a God-given talent. It can be learned for sure (cue me), but there is always something about her getups that I can't quite achieve. So, today is my attempt at bringing my talent to the table.
The launch of this digital collection is something that, before today, I could have only dreamed up in my wildest of dreams. We've tried to do mini versions of this before, but nothing to this magnitude—nothing to this scale. And how fitting it is that we get to start with Jesus. Cue the praise hands emoji! So, I want to talk to you a bit about Jesus this morning because He's so worthy, sweet friend. I could spend the rest of my life talking about Him, but I'll try to keep it more brief today. (You're welcome lol)
We've been watching The Chosen at the Comer/Kidd house. We're wrapping up the end of season 4, and it's brought back to my attention how much I've let my attention slip from Jesus' face since the fire, but if I'm honest, I let it slip much before that. Maybe some of you can relate, and that's what I feel the Lord is asking me to talk to you about today.
Where is your attention focused?
I can think of about a hundred stories to illustrate this, but coming right off the chosen, I want to talk about a personal favorite of mine. It's about John the Baptist, or as they call him in the show, Creepy John. Most of you know the story of Creepy John: how he was born to be the forerunner for Christ, how he wore camel skins and lived out in the wilderness eating locusts and wild honey, all the while preaching about the coming of the Messiah. Maybe that sounds a little extreme, and perhaps you know some "extreme" Jesus people like that. Creepy John was extreme. He was preaching a prologue to the gospel that most people of that time found downright blasphemous. He called out sinners, religious leaders, and kings alike. There was no one too high or too low in John's book.
And because of his bold spirit and his eagerness to preach, Creepy John found himself in some sticky situations, and I'm not talking about the honey. He was routinely cornered by religious leaders (well as cornered as you could be in the wilderness) and arrested. The part of this story that we'll be talking about today, one of my favorite parts of his story, is when he said some pretty on point, but maybe shouldn't have been said, things about King Herod's marriage to his sister-in-law, Herodias. This led to his imprisonment by Herod and Herodias beginning her plot to end the baptizer.
And I guess for me at least, if I were John, I would expect some sort of daring and exciting rescue mission from Jesus and his followers... or at least for the chains to fall off and the door to be unlocked. I mean, this is Jesus, after all. But when the word reaches Jesus that John is a prisoner. Jesus does nothing.
After quite a while in prison, John begins to feel his faith on shaky ground. He knows what he's been told. God told him that when he baptized the Messiah, the Holy Spirit would descend from heaven like a dove and remain upon him. John watched that happen when he baptized his cousin Jesus. He knows what God has told him. Deep down, he knows there is no question that Jesus is the Messiah he had been paving the way for.
But in this dark place, in this prison cell, John's attention has shifted from Jesus to his circumstances, allowing doubt to creep into his heart. So John sends two of his followers to ask Jesus if He is actually the Messiah, or should they still be looking? Jesus sends them back with the message that miracles and teachings are still being performed. And then without another word, Jesus turns back to His teaching and says, “Blessed is he who does not stumble on account of me.”
If you missed it, Jesus was saying, I’m not coming to help you, John. Talk about a major insult to the man who literally sat up Jesus’ ministry and kickstarted His platform (not to mention his own cousin). But then Jesus turned to the people he’s teaching, and He said, "There is no greater man born to a woman than John the Baptist." What an honor.
Sometimes, we forget how small we are.
How small our lives are in the grand scheme.
And that’s not to bring any of us to shame because, to each of us, they are everything that we know. To us, our lives and the lives of the people that we love are the center of the universe. And sometimes, we forget how close we are to the tapestry of our lives and how close we are to the situation we’re facing. Sometimes, we can’t see through the valley we’re in.
We cry broken-heartedly to God and beg Him to remove us from the storm. We beg Him to let up the rain and wind just long enough for us to catch our breath.
And sometimes He calms the storm.
And sometimes, He chooses not to.
I think Jesus had Matthew pen that phrase because He knew how easy it is to get hurt by Him seeming to pass us over. He knew how to our understanding, Him calming our storm seems to be the best plan (even if in the grand scheme, it’s not). And that’s why He wanted to remind us not to get offended when the answer is the opposite of what we were hoping and praying for.
To not get offended when He doesn’t heal.
To not get offended when He chooses to take.
To not get offended when sales are down.
To not get offended when we’re alone.
To not get offended when the bills pile up.
To not get offended when it seems like He’s silent.
When I was thinking about this story to tell you today, the Lord spoke to me and said that another word for offended in this story was distracted.
We live in a world that constantly begs and fights for our attention. Is that any coincidence? That it's constantly trying to rip our focus away from Jesus? Sweet friend, if we're always looking down at our problems, at our own knowledge, at our own understanding, at our wants and desires, at what will make us happy, at what will bring us the most money, and what will satisfy us in the now, how can we ever hope to look up at Jesus' face?
It's precisely what Paul was trying to say when he penned 1 Corinthians 2:1-5:
And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
Sweet friends, let us know nothing. Let us focus on nothing except Christ and Christ Crucified. Let that be our focus. Let that be our true north. Once it is, there is no storm that we cannot come out the other side of. There is no valley too deep or dark to pass through. There is no offense too great to tear our gaze away.
We hope you love this digital collection. We hope that when you buy something from it, it serves as a faithful reminder to keep focused on our sweet King of Kings.
Let us lift our eyes up to the cross sweet friends.
xoxo,
Em
