José Mota: «He is the center of my existence»
At 61, José Mota spoke publicly about his faith in Jesus, as reported by ABC.
José Mota is 61 years old and he said it clearly: «I feel happy to be closer to Jesus every day. He is the center of my existence,» according to ABC.
That word deserves more attention than it usually gets. A center is an architectural decision: it holds up the rest and decides what falls when the ground shakes. Change the center and the whole house changes.
For those who grew up measuring the day in notifications, a phrase like that sounds countercultural.
«A center holds up the rest and decides what falls when the ground shakes»
When the «like» rules
No one is immune to approval. You post a photo and check your phone every few minutes. A kind comment lifts your afternoon; a rude one ruins it. That exchange seems harmless, but it teaches something dangerous: that your worth is set by others.
Jesus spoke about this bluntly: «For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also» (Matthew 6:21, ESV). If your treasure is a metric, your heart will live restless. An identity that depends on strangers never rests, because it never finishes being approved.
What applause cannot hold up
We all like our good work to be recognized. The problem appears when recognition stops being a gift and becomes a necessity. At that point a person stops creating, serving, and telling the truth, and starts managing their image.
The center also shows in the small things. If Christ is at the center, you treat the same way the one who can give you something and the one who will give you nothing. You decide with your time and money thinking about what God values, not what looks good in a screenshot.
«And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together» (Colossians 1:17, ESV). If everything holds together in him, your worth does too. You are not valuable because of your numbers, but by creation and by grace. And if you are in Christ, your identity does not fall when people change their minds.
A faith that orders, not one that shows off
A public declaration of faith does not make anyone a hero or a teacher. There is no need to canonize or condemn him; the gospel has never been a badge to show off, but a Lord to follow.
It is not a church label or a campaign either. It is a way of living Monday: work changes owners and becomes a vocation, something done well because it is done before God. And how you treat people changes, because no one builds anything good by hurting others for a moment of attention.
Do an exercise this week. Look at your screen history and the hours you give to each thing. What appears at the top is your real center, even if you have never said it out loud.
Mota's phrase is short and hard to live. What occupies the center of your life, and what would have to move for it to be Jesus? It is not a question to answer quickly; it is one to sit with all week.
