The Seat is His. The Seat will always be His.

Tonight at church Isaac, my pastor, was challenging us to walk with Jesus all day. He used the analogy of pulling up a seat beside us and acting as if Jesus was physically sitting there just like anyone else. He challenged us to walk through our day as if we have Jesus, in flesh, standing beside us. How differently would we act? How much more patience would we have? Would we be able to love people more because we knew that Jesus expected more of us than we do of ourselves?

I listened to a three part sermon by Brennan Manning a couple of months ago. He used the same analogy as Isaac used tonight. One particular thing he said really impacted my heart. He was referring to the fact that we were all broken, but Jesus is always present. He was present in the times of Peter's denial and He is present in the times of our brokenness. Manning spoke this quote from Jesus's perspective. "The point my friend is this. I expected more failure from you than you expected from yourself. Do you hear my word? I expected more failure from you than you expected from yourself. At this moment, take your eyes off yourself and fix them on me. And let me be who I am, Savior."

Jesus can do that for me. He can do that sitting right here beside me on this couch. He can do that tomorrow when I am relaxing because I have a day off. He is always with me. I am never alone. And since I am never alone, I should always focus on His presence in my life. When it is 5:00 and I am ready to get off work, He is standing beside me encouraging me that listening to a particular mother's heart is much more important than sitting on the couch watching t.v. He is there beside me when a friend needs a shoulder to cry on and I have nothing left to give. He can give me the strength and can sustain me.

So, I am challenging myself to remember Jesus. I want to remember Him when I am fixing dinner or when I am drying my hair. I want to remember that my life would not be possible if it were not for Him and His love and grace. And so the least I can do is give Him a seat. My chair will remain occupied at all times because Jesus is here and is my priority, my focus.