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Grin and Grow with Kathy 04/08/20

Counting on Jesus

If I replace my gray concerns with a focus on Jesus, I color my day with beautiful hues.

STORY: Concerns of COVID-19 Lead to Renewed Focus

As I write this Grin & Grow with Kathy article, talk of COVID-19 and pandemic restrictions have overshadowed all else. This series is studying the word first, and encouraging each of us to keep first things first. But if I’m being honest, the first thing on my mind when I wake is of our current state of emergency. Even though that is the case, I have a choice for what comes second. If I replace my gray concerns with a focus on Jesus, I color my day with beautiful hues.

Pretty much everything distracts me from keeping my gaze on God. My only remedy is to truly focus on Christ. Not just "mean to" but with strong intention. When that happens, everything else fades away. But of course, I'm human, and that strong intention doesn't last forever. I have to renew it over and over and over again. So in this study of first, know that it also needs to be second, and third, and all day. 1.2.3. Counting on Jesus—just like the shampoo instructions to rinse and repeat.

STUDY: Getting to Jesus First

  • When was the last time you wondered how you measured up with someone else? Did you feel a sense of competition or comparison? What did your concerns tell your mind and heart, as you pondered how someone else ranked you in value? Did it matter more if the one doing the perceived judging was someone who mattered more to you?
  • How will you be a servant to others? How can you remove a self-focus when the news is all about self-preservation? In today’s situation, what will esteem you as “first” in the eyes of Jesus?

After Jesus rose from the dead early on Sunday morning, the first person who saw him was Mary Magdalene, the woman from whom he had cast out seven demons. She went to the disciples, who were grieving and weeping, and told them what had happened. (Mark 16:9-10 NLT)


  • Imagine the scene unfolding in your mind. Who was the one who saw the risen Savior first?
  • When Mary Magdalene told the disciples, they ran to the tomb. Who reached the tomb first?
  • Think about the time when you first came to Jesus.
  • The word “first” used here is regarding the actions a sinful woman took to anoint Jesus from the time he first entered this home. Jesus uses it to teach a lesson. What is it?
  • Who loves Jesus more?
  • Whose sins are forgiven?
  • How does the Good News bear fruit?
  • How does the Good News change lives?

STEPS: One, Two, Three

  1. Replace. With COVID-19, all of us are more aware of world news than maybe ever before. Allow God to take your concerns and replace them with the fact that the same Good News that changed your life is still going out all over the world, almost 2,000 years after it first launched.
  2. Rehearse. Think about the time you first heard about God’s wonderful grace. How did it change your life? Your attitudes? Your actions?
  3. Refocus. Think of the simple numbers. 1. 2. 3. When your world gets out of focus, repeat the numbers and put Jesus first.

Copyright © 2020 Kathy Carlton Willis, used with permission.

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