As a woman with a…well…how do I say this graciously but accurately?…calendar fetish (yes, that sums it up succinctly), I love when a new month begins. In my organizationally OCD mind, it represents so much: a new start, a new opportunity to color code, an incentive to take a new approach and learn new things. I know, silly, right? Because those opportunities and options are there no matter what day it is numerically on the calendar. But just let me have my once-a-month eagerness over “new beginnings,” okay?
In preparation for commemorating and celebrating Christ’s death and resurrection (!) later this month, I wanted the month of April to focus on that. I searched for a book in the Bible with twenty chapters, since Easter falls on the twentieth day. The best I could do was the book of John, which has twenty-one chapters. However, it’s actually quite perfect because chapter twenty, describing the findings and subsequent reactions to His resurrection, will be my Easter morning reading! And then I’ll get to read the “bonus chapter” the next day! (I’d love for you to join me on this journey, by the way!)
But as I began my morning, I opened my Bible obligatorily, ready to place a check mark next to “GAIT” (God-and-I-Time”), which I had written in pink ink (pink, of course, for “personal” to-do item) at the top of my calendar for today’s date. The “obligation” ended with the first verse, and the soul-stirring, life-altering elements just expanded with each verse after that!
Not only does John begin by stating that Christ was there from the very beginning, but in verse three, he bottom-lines it by saying that everything we have and everything we are and the very fact that we are in existence is solely because of Christ. EVERYTHING! (And yes, I’m shouting that!)
As if that’s not enough, he goes on later in the chapter to share the words of another John (John the Baptist), who spoke to those around him for one purpose—and one purpose alone: “Behold, the Lamb of God.” John the Baptist had some seriously mad communication skills and had a following that business leaders and church leaders today could only long for, but he said, “It’s not about me.”
There are several more reminders in the chapter that Christ deserves first place, but I’ll encourage you to find those on your own because I seriously want to share one more thing, and I’ve already made this longer than I had hoped it would be.
I’m currently reading the book 7, by Jen Hatmaker. Think what you will of her and of this experiment she writes about, but her book is changing my life by pointing me to the life-changing power of a life fully surrendered to Christ. In one of the early chapters, she tells of speaking to a group of young women and encouraging them to bring a tangible item to the altar (to give to the needy at the compelling of Christ) or to write on a 3 x 5 card something intangible that they would give to Christ: relationships, anger, dreams, etc. As God worked in her own heart about what she was sharing, her personal 3 x 5 card ended up with three words: “All of me.”
Since reading that, I can’t get those words or that thought out of my head. And if you saw my post about “A Picture-Perfect (but Painful) Lesson,” which you can read later, here, you know that this phrase was part of a song the Lord used in my heart on Sunday morning at church. And now, John adds to that by showing me Who Christ is and how He alone should be my focus. How could I offer Him less than “all of me?”
Yet, on this day of the week that I consistently pray for singles—myself included—I was pointedly reminded as I laid “all of me” before Him this morning that He is not to receive “all of me” by default. He is not to be “more than enough” by default—simply because I have nothing (no one) else. Nor does it mean that all fun, enjoyment, longings, or dreams must cease. It simply and amazingly means that all of those things are secondary, and that they first get filtered through the fact that He alone is in charge. He alone receives the glory (as John wisely states in chapter 1). He alone gets “all of me.”
Let me just confess here that following that reading and following those thoughts, it was time for a session of “carpet-smelling” (face-to-the-floor!) prayer before the One I have too often given “first place by default.”
This month, and long after, I desire to learn more of the One Who gave His all for me, and that my sincere response will be for Him to have “all of me.” Again, I’d love for you to join me on this twenty-one-day journey through John!
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