Don't Believe the Storm - Christ is First Place

What does Jesus being first place have to do with depression, anxiety, & suicide?

Momma coming in 3rd in pumpkin contest

Something was wonky with the placing. She was a 6 year old, for crying out loud!

Sometimes the order of things in our life (their priority and placing) keeps our lives out of balance. Sometimes not being in touch with true reality keeps our mental health in jeopardy.

What does Jesus being first place have to do with depression, anxiety, & suicide?

First place - Preeminent. Supremacy. What do these words mean?

Jesus is first place.

Maybe my momma’s pumpkin wasn’t quite a first place pumpkin… but Jesus is deserving of first place

Read Colossians 1:15-20

Anxiety. What a loaded word. Sleeplessness, knots in your stomach, cloudy mind, loneliness, insecurity, etc.

Depression. “Lance, I think I have lost my mind”

Suicide.

Instead of primarily explaining and teaching, I’m gonna flat-out testify this evening. *testify*

Bible is full of people testifying.

Testimony.

God works. He works powerfully. Want proof? Look at the transformed lives around the world, all because of Jesus.

Story of anxiety eating me away.

In my head, Jesus was first. Yet He wasn’t in my heart.

Depression. Suicide.

Wasn’t a miraculous, “I was blinded on the road between Clovis and Canyon” story. God didn’t speak in audibly in my dark room at night.

Yet HE SPOKE. He spoke through His Word. He spoke in my prayers and moments of silence before Him. He spoke through His people.

When I was finally empty and had no other options or solutions I could come up with, I turned wholly to Jesus. I found where the light met the darkness. I could begin to heal.

Now, mental health is a real thing. Chemical imbalances. Past trauma & hurt. Yet the truth remains- our God is Lord. Our God is Healer. If He made the human heart, He can mend it too. If He designed and created the human brain, He can guide the way to repair it too.

Chiropractor gets you aligned. How things ought to be. After realignment, motion and functionality is restored. Then, pain begins to go away. Strength can be built again.

Mental health restoration and healing may be a process that involves steps, doctors, therapy, etc. But we KNOW step one. We know where to begin. We know Who comes first. We must be realigned.

This isn’t a rebuke or inspirational message to make you try harder. This is an invite to step into ultimate reality.

The GOSPEL. NO CONDEMNATION. Consequences, yes. Pain, yes. But listen- if you are His daughter or son, He WILL work all things for your good- and your good for His glory (Romans 8:28). Because He is good, and He is first.

Wanna know the main message? He is first place in all things in all ways.

This is the space and the frontier you will find freedom. Surrender.

No matter how far you run, you’ll run into His love.

24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. Luke 9:24 NIV

What a paradox! But here’s the truth:

we are gripped by the tyranny of what others think about us. We live on Instagram. We live from one Tiktok to the next. We are preoccupied with our status and our abilities. Our popularity. Our money.

Yet it has all left us cold. We aren’t ever satisfied or content. It has all stolen more than it could ever possibly give. We were seeking to find our lives, but ultimately, we lost them in the search.

Story of two girls. “You got all of daddy, but daddy got all of me”

Do you seek all the glory? The glory that belongs to the Father? Do you desperately, anxiously hunt for God’s blessings on your life? Is God going to fix your problems and take the pain away like a jeanie?

Remember. Life isn’t found in the absence of problems. Life is found in the Presence of God.

Jeremiah 29:13 CSB

You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.

Even if you have been left with NOTHING, Christ plus nothing equals EVERYTHING. Everything without Christ equals NOTHING.

.. have you surrendered your all to Him? Does He have all of You? Has He found you arms raised, head bowed, calling out “amen, amen”, and tears rolling off your face? (Nehemiah 8)

For some of us in here, you need to be obedient through baptism. Trust Him. Get in the water.

Be honest. Take off the mask. Be real with God, yourself, & others- you’ll find His Presence and peace to be so so real

Through it all, He is First. Preeminence.