Over the last week I've been previewing a video series to find 'kid-appropriate' testimonies of people who have committed their lives to Christ. Someone told me about a series called "I am Second."
These are great videos and they do an amazing job highlighting the power of God at work in the lives of some very famous people; people who have surrendered their lives to Him. The premise of the series is that God has gotten ahold of their lives, transformed them and now they are second and God is first.
Story after story recounts people who were living for themselves, do anything and everything, thinking of no one else; God enters in and changes everything.
Disclaimer: These are great videos, but not all of them are appropriate for young kids. If you're going to check them out, make sure you preview the ones you'd like to show your little people.
So, I love the concept of these videos, but I have to admit, something about them rubbed me the wrong way.
I am Second.
Hmmm…I thought,
I am Second.
In our house, we have a few Christmas decorations up all year round (mostly because I'm not great at decorating and I don't like to spend money on seasonal decorations). My nativity set is one of these decorations and I love it. The other consists of three wooden letters that sit in a nook by the stairs: J O Y
My mother and father-in-law made these three letters and gave them to us quite a few years ago. I love them and I love what these letters stand for:
J - Jesus first
O - Others second
Y - Yourselves last
And it dawns on me, there is the rub! The word isn't JYO…it's J O Y!
Yourself is third…or biblically speaking…YOU are last!
This isn't a concept I made up…Jesus has a lot to say about "I am Second." Indirectly.
Matthew 19:30 "But many who are first, will be last, and many who are last will be first."
Matthew 20:16 "So the last will be first, and the first will be last."
Matthew 20:26-27 "whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave"
Matthew 22:37-39 Jesus replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself."
There are so many passages that refer to our Call to be last, I couldn't possibly include them all!
The bottom line is, our hope is in being last! If we're letting ourselves be last…then we'll be first! If we're second…we're only 1/2 way there (technically 2/3 of the way there, but you know what I mean)!
I've been home with my kids for 16 months. At one point, about 5 months in, I was sweeping the floor and wiping up dried milk when this thought ran through my head, "I am being reduced to servitude."
And then I heard God whisper in my spirit, "that's the point."
That's the point, Andria.
You are not first. You're not even second.
You are a servant of the Living God and you are last.
Immediately Philippians 2 came to my head and I'm going to include it here, in case you don't click the link. It's breath-taking. It's convicting. It makes me thankful. And it encourages me to continue seeking to identify with the Man who made himself nothing...for me.
Philippians 2:1-11
Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ,
if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,
then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others.
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
Rather he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Enter J O Y. When Jesus is first, others are second, and you are last…there is joy.
Joy cannot be reduced to circumstance, it is a state of my heart.
And when my priorities are in line, I am joyfully last!
I am Andria Messelt and I am last.
What about you?
These are great videos and they do an amazing job highlighting the power of God at work in the lives of some very famous people; people who have surrendered their lives to Him. The premise of the series is that God has gotten ahold of their lives, transformed them and now they are second and God is first.
Story after story recounts people who were living for themselves, do anything and everything, thinking of no one else; God enters in and changes everything.
Disclaimer: These are great videos, but not all of them are appropriate for young kids. If you're going to check them out, make sure you preview the ones you'd like to show your little people.
So, I love the concept of these videos, but I have to admit, something about them rubbed me the wrong way.
I am Second.
Hmmm…I thought,
I am Second.
In our house, we have a few Christmas decorations up all year round (mostly because I'm not great at decorating and I don't like to spend money on seasonal decorations). My nativity set is one of these decorations and I love it. The other consists of three wooden letters that sit in a nook by the stairs: J O Y
My mother and father-in-law made these three letters and gave them to us quite a few years ago. I love them and I love what these letters stand for:
J - Jesus first
O - Others second
Y - Yourselves last
And it dawns on me, there is the rub! The word isn't JYO…it's J O Y!
Yourself is third…or biblically speaking…YOU are last!
This isn't a concept I made up…Jesus has a lot to say about "I am Second." Indirectly.
Matthew 19:30 "But many who are first, will be last, and many who are last will be first."
Matthew 20:16 "So the last will be first, and the first will be last."
Matthew 20:26-27 "whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave"
Matthew 22:37-39 Jesus replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself."
There are so many passages that refer to our Call to be last, I couldn't possibly include them all!
The bottom line is, our hope is in being last! If we're letting ourselves be last…then we'll be first! If we're second…we're only 1/2 way there (technically 2/3 of the way there, but you know what I mean)!
I've been home with my kids for 16 months. At one point, about 5 months in, I was sweeping the floor and wiping up dried milk when this thought ran through my head, "I am being reduced to servitude."
And then I heard God whisper in my spirit, "that's the point."
That's the point, Andria.
You are not first. You're not even second.
You are a servant of the Living God and you are last.
Immediately Philippians 2 came to my head and I'm going to include it here, in case you don't click the link. It's breath-taking. It's convicting. It makes me thankful. And it encourages me to continue seeking to identify with the Man who made himself nothing...for me.
Philippians 2:1-11
Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ,
if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,
then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others.
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
Rather he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Enter J O Y. When Jesus is first, others are second, and you are last…there is joy.
Joy cannot be reduced to circumstance, it is a state of my heart.
And when my priorities are in line, I am joyfully last!
I am Andria Messelt and I am last.
What about you?
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