Turn your eyes upon Jesus

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs philosophises that we as humans cannot seek to achieve self-actualisation without first meeting one's essential needs. It is as follows (from the top of the hierarchy down):

• Self-actualisation is the desire to become the most that one can be

• Esteem refers to respect, self-esteem, status, recognition, strength, and freedom

• Love + belonging includes friendship, intimacy, family, and sense of connection

• Safety needs are personal security, employment, resources, health, and property

• Physiological needs are air, water, food, shelter, sleep, and clothing

It's true what they say: you can't preach to a man on an empty stomach. Until you fulfil the basic need of food, he won't have the concentration capacity to listen to something higher in the hierarchy.

But God flips this on its head. Matthew 6:33 says "but seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

He is saying that before you fret about the needs on this hierarchy, look to Him. The needs still need to be met, but struggling and stressing from your own strength won't help.

Do you ever have thoughts that the Bible isn't relevant, but then you find something that is so relatable? This is me and Peter. In Matthew 14:22-33, Peter was full of faith when he saw Jesus walking on the water, and he asked for the same power, and it worked! But as he walked on the water, for a second he took his eyes off Jesus, and it went down from there - literally. As he turned his gaze from Jesus to the storm around him, he became overwhelmed by the waves and wind, and began to sink. Jesus saves him before he drowns. Worry is like the boat - it's the safe place, and often our automatic response when something comes up - so it takes faith to try and walk away from it.

We can be like Peter! Another way to look at it is like those human-size hamster wheels. When you're on it, you can't look at the hamster wheel turning around you. As you focus on that, you begin to follow your eyes and lean forward, and end up falling. You have to keep your head up and not focus on the chaos around you.

Don Whitney said "Thoughts must be disciplined, otherwise, like water they tend to flow downhill or stand stagnant."

So when God says to seek Him first and all of these things will be added to you, what does that look like? Stuff still happens, it still goes wrong, but as they say: life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you react to it. It's not just a nice saying, legitimately I could've made my life a whole lot better and more productive if I didn't dwell on the things that happen to me. Yes, they still need to be dealt with, and some things do require grieving time, but you have to acknowledge that staying there only hurts you and limits the opportunity to grow. You have to eventually lift your head up, turn your eyes to Heaven, and even after screaming "why" a few times, focus on His promises and His faithfulness.

Prayer is a great start, even if it looks like a rant for a while. "It's not disrespectful to feel and ask questions, it's part of the human journey. One of the great comforts of the Psalms is the permission to feel and speak and dialogue with God what is truly in our hearts. He's not offended by our honesty." (via @awriterandtheword on Instagram) He is still faithful when we are faithless.

Another way we can turn our eyes to Jesus is worship. Lisa Bevere (in her book 'Strong') said "Worship is always a great response when you don't know what to do. When you are overwhelmed with life, whatever the circumstances, you can find shelter waiting for you in His presence." When I'm really flustered and don't know what to do, sometimes I'll put on some worship music. Even if I'm not worshipping, and even when I'm still grumpy, I know that putting myself in that kind of atmosphere and inviting God to join me is wiser than just letting myself sulk.

Turning your eyes to Jesus isn't just looking up at the sky and saying a quick prayer when you're feeling worried, stressed, anxious, depressed, or overwhelmed. Turning your eyes to Jesus means letting go! It's walking on the water, wild storms around, walking away from the boat, the safe place, and letting go of those worries because Jesus is here. It's not looking down in the hamster wheel, but keeping your head up and trusting that your feet know what they're doing. It's trusting that it will be okay, whatever that looks like and however long that takes.

Back to Maslow! This isn't to say that if you're a Christian, you automatically have everything you need. You still need air, shelter, love, food, (yes, the last two are synonymous). But it means having faith that it will be provided, and that God's got you. You'll still need to work for it, but He will work too to make it happen. Turning your eyes to Jesus means letting go of the worry of these things. "Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?" (Matthew 6:27)

In the Bible, we find Job (in the book of the same name). He had everything - good family, house, money, work, health - and He kept his sights on God while he had all this, while everything was good. Then everything was bad. He lost everything, it was blow after blow - he lost his family, home, money, work, health, and his friends and wife were against him. But even then, he kept his eyes on God. It wasn't changing his circumstances at the time, but as he kept his eyes above and focused on God, he didn't have room in his mind to worry about the situation. Did he still grieve for a bit? Yes. Did he question why God had let it happen? Yes. Did he question God's faithfulness? No. That's one instance of how we can look in the Bible to find what God has already done, and can do again.

It's back to that 10/90 rule: it's 10% what happens to you, and 90% what you choose to do next. And that's what turning your eyes to Jesus, seeking Him first, means. It's knowing the 10% has happened, but keeping your eyes up and knowing it will work out, and looking for that next step to take with God.