When you’re feeling overwhelmed with life, check your place, your perspective, and your priorities. Getting closer to Jesus, recognizing what God has already done, and focusing on what matters most can help you find peace when everything feels like too much.
Do you ever find yourself feeling overwhelmed with life? Like there are more to-do’s than can-do’s? You’re doing two people’s jobs for one person’s pay, rushing your kids from karate to soccer, and finding bills you can’t pay. Maybe you have barely enough energy to be civil with your spouse, much less loving, supportive, and romantic.
We all feel overwhelmed at times. When that happens, it helps to check three things: your place, your perspective, and your priorities.
1. Check Your Place: Get Where Jesus Is
In Luke 17, we’re introduced to 10 men who certainly felt overwhelmed. They had leprosy. Their bodies were overtaken with disease. As a result, they were also cut off from their families, communities, and their place of worship. Physical touch wasn’t an option. They were left with almost no way to meet their basic human needs.
As overwhelming as their situation was, they had one thing going for them. They were in the best place they could be: They found themselves where Jesus was!
It’s impossible to live life right when you’re in the wrong place. For example, a healthy, romantic marriage is nearly impossible if you spend all your free time out with friends or in front of screens. Instead, you need to get to the best location, somewhere present with your spouse, then start going where you need to go!
The same is true when life feels overwhelming. Getting where Jesus is might mean opening your Bible, making time to pray, or asking someone you trust to help you take your next step.
2. Check Your Perspective: See What Jesus Has Already Done
Okay, back to Luke 17. One day, as Jesus passed by, the men cried out for help, just as we’ve all cried out for help when we feel overwhelmed: “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
Jesus stopped and sent them to show themselves to the priests. The Bible tells us that they were healed on the way! All 10 men were miraculously cleansed of their disease.
Interesting thing though: As miraculous as that is, it’s not the focus of the story. The focus is on one man’s response.
“One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.” -Luke 17:15-16 NIV
One of the men returned to Jesus, his healer. Sadly, he was the only one to return. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?”
Why did the one man return? The Bible says he “saw he was healed.” But didn’t they all see that they were healed? Certainly. Yet only one man returned to thank Jesus.
He chose the best perspective. And we get to choose our perspective, too. When I spend time in God’s Word, in His presence, and in prayer, I begin to know God and change my perspective. Like the thankful man, I can see His work and healing in my life, too.
What we see determines who we will be. Why? Because our perspective determines our priorities.
3. Check Your Priority: Let Gratitude Come First
The man returned because he saw that Jesus healed him. Thanking Jesus became his first priority.
What about you? What are your priorities?
In Joshua 24:14-15, Joshua, the leader of God’s people, stood before the Israelites and pleaded with them to choose the best priority. “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve,” he told them. “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
What would it look like for you and your household to serve God? Maybe you’re single. You still have a household. Think about it. What does your house hold? How can you serve God with it?
What does this have to do with feeling less overwhelmed? As I begin to have the courage to say yes to the most important things, I have the clarity and focus to say no to what’s unimportant.
Honestly, sometimes I feel overwhelmed. When I choose the best place, choose the best perspective, and choose the best priorities, I actually become even more overwhelmed. But it’s different.
Instead of being overwhelmed by a lack of time, money, self-control, or relationships, I’m overwhelmed by God’s peace and presence. I’m overwhelmed by who God is, by what He’s done, and by what He’s promised to do!
And when that happens, I’m glad to feel overwhelmed.
So the next time life feels like too much, check these three things:
- Your place: Are you making room to be where Jesus is?
- Your perspective: Can you see what God has already done?
- Your priority: Is gratitude shaping what matters most?