Jesus First
What’s up, internet? It’s been a minute.
I wanted to drop something out there because I wasn’t sure if I ever had, and I thought it would be unfaithful if I never did.
I was once told in high school that I was unofficially most likely to be dead or in prison after graduating high school.
I laughed at the time, but they were right.
They could see in me a darkness; I could feel it, but I thought it was the way. When I actually did acknowledge its presence, loathing the misery I was in, I felt unable to deal with it. When I tried to fix it my way, I always found myself back at the bottom of a pit I couldn’t get free from.
My thoughts and actions were so intertwined by the darkness that I just ceased to care.
I came dangerously close to taking my own life.
I didn’t care about people and was selfish to the core.
I hurt other people with my actions and had little regard for anything.
I broke the law.
I was hurting myself by consuming things that were wrong and unhealthy.
I was hopeless and dead.
I was on a pathway to destruction.
I was suffocating in sin. Broken.
How then am I still around?
How does one go from that to what I am living today? I am alive and abundantly blessed with forgiveness, life, purpose, and peace.
Today, I want to tell you the rest of the story.
The answer is Jesus.
He offered me grace and forgiveness when I didn’t deserve it (Ephesians 4:32).
In all accounts, I was a dead man walking, and instead of letting me die like that, he died so that I could have life (Romans 5:6).
He offered me hope when I had none (1 Peter 1:3)
He showed me a way that is eternal; Something bigger than myself and a wisdom and honor that valued others as well as my place in this world (1 Corinthians 1:23-25)
He gave me peace (Ephesians 2:14).
He gave me his Spirit that guides me in life and keeps me on that path (Acts 2:38).
John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
He is the way, the truth, and the life, and I found it.
I am thankful for those who shone this truth into my life.
I am thankful for the Word that guided me to the truth.
I am thankful for God’s people who embraced me, challenged me, and discipled me into my new life and beyond.
For all these reasons and many more, I say Jesus first!
This is what I want you to know. You may be out there, intertwined with the darkness in your thoughts and actions. You may be looking for something sustainable to put your hope in, but keep coming up short. You may be broken and weary, ready to give up. You may feel that life in the pit is what you are doomed to endure forever.
There is forgiveness. Redemption. There is rest. There is healing. There is hope. His name is Jesus, and he loves you (John 3:16-17)!
Know that.
If I can help you in any way, find Him, I’m here for you. Just reach out.
Eyes Up,
Ryan
