The Greatest Investment

This blog is designed to give people an inner look at a devotional life. Taking time each day to spend time with the Lord. The hope is if you travel on this journey with Rev. Jacob Shaw, you may be more inclined to spend time with the Lord as well. I encourage the use of a devotional, a scripture reading and prayer, then finally some form of artistic mark to tie it all together. 

Today's devotional is taken from: Zacharias, Ravi. The Logic of God: 52 Christian Essentials for the Heart and Mind. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2019. [E-Book] Chapter 8: The Great Investment

Opening Thought: If you have been reading this blog for some time, or you have attended one of the churches I lead worship in regularly, you have likely figured out that I enjoy thinking and learning. If I gave into my enjoyment I would probably not move ever and would sit in the dancing games of my mind. This of course has its downside; I can often forget to live because I can be trapped inside. So, this chapter was interesting for me to utilize personally because it was encouraging people to stop and think about what they are encountering in life and in faith and not just mindlessly wander in our faith. Zacharias quotes A. W. Tozer,

I have often wished that there were some way to bring modern Christians into a deeper spiritual life painlessly by short easy lessons; but such wishes are vain. No shortcuts exist! … May not the inadequacy of much of our spiritual experience be traced back to our habit of skipping through the corridors of the kingdom like children through the marketplace, chattering about everything but pausing to learn the true value of nothing?[1]

As someone who likes to stop and learn, to me, it seems unnatural to skip through life like Tozer seems to imply. Since reading this quote, I have been thinking back to my childhood trying to remember if I had the experience and feeling of aimlessness.

The devotional begins with: Luke 24:13-16

Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.

Second Thought: This premise in which this text is being used by Zacharias is, if we wander aimlessly in faith, (like the disciples in this scripture perhaps), we may miss the value of what is right beside us. Therefore, I believe that a bible study groups, devotionals, and dedicated discerning times are so valuable because they help us from just wandering. This is also why I stress that people should understand their faith. Now the big challenge of today's world is that we have a structure of media that is built upon the idea of wandering. Think about how things like Facebook and Twitter work, you can literally scroll for hours checking out memes, headlines and watching little videos without ever learning anything. Even the more learning-oriented people seem to isolate their learning within their own worldview and never branch much beyond what they think is truth, that’s like wandering in a fun house of mirrors. I even remember in my youth and teenage years, many teachers and parents seemed to glorify the “wanderer”. It seemed like the message was, before we ever dedicate ourselves to an adult life we were to travel aimlessly, love aimlessly, and be morally ambiguous. I always struggled with this mindset, it seemed like we had come to a point in our society where we glorified the journey the prodigal son took away from his father’s home, rather than the journey to return to the father’s home. So, intentionality becomes especially important, if you have been wandering aimlessly and you discover truth like the prodigal son, great, let’s celebrate. But choosing aimless wandering is not wise, sometimes we need to leave home to discover the value of home, but if we glorify the aimlessness, we will make it even more difficult for those to find their way back.

Continual Work: This one is a tough one, we want to experience the world, and this is, in my opinion, one of the reasons aimlessness has become glorified, but what we really need to glorify to people, particularly our young ones, is that the greatest place to be is at home with God. So, my advice for continual work is for you to watch or read the Wizard of OZ, because there is no place like home.    

What Rev. Jacob is Working On: I struggle with having patience for the wanderer. I am very particular in some respects so I often feel like if I was the prodigal son’s brother, I would have been very impatient waiting for his return home and respective party. I so long for people to enjoy the truth of the gospel sometimes I get frustrated at their wandering, so I ask for patience and calm, Amen.

Rev. Jacob’s Scripture time: Luke 15:11-32

“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.  He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

Whether we are the disciples not being able to see Christ who is right in front of us, or the prodigal son who does not appreciate the family and home he has been graced with, we can often become lost or blind. Both “lost” and “blind” have been witnessed as ways to testify the glory of God, the healing of the blind and the journeying of the lost. In both cases we know what is discovered or restored to the person or people is the true glory. But keep in mind that the disciples and the prodigal son were both remarkably close to their blessings and they still did not see them. It took some difficulty and time to allow them to come to truth. So as much as I would love to say to you “be mindful of aimlessness” the reality is that you need to discover that for yourself, and Tozer is correct, there are no shortcuts.      

Closing Words: I hope you enjoyed and were lifted by this devotional time; it is truly important to take time for God each day. By doing so, you welcome God into your life, and in turn you will be able to better see the world through the eyes of God, rather than God through the world's eyes.

Prayer for your day: God of the Lost Sheep, help us to the wisdom to see that in our journeys, the star we should be following is the one which will lead us to Your Son. Let that light be our guide so that our journeys are not in vain. Let us realize that all the experience in the world cannot compare to the ultimate glory of God. Let us be woke to your truth, way and the life of love you grant us in your mercy. In Christ’s name, Amen.

Artistic Close: This is an image that Zacharias did not take time to appreciate one day while in a museum as he aimlessly walked around, later discovered what he missed.

"The Return of the Prodigal Son", by Rembran(d)t Harmenszoon van Rijn, c. 1669

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[1] A.W. Tozer, “Give Time to God,” in Mornings with Tozer: Daily Devotional Readings (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2015), reading for Feb 24.