The Value of Something
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 30: The Value of Something
Opening Thought: In my last post, I spoke to you about the story of Cain and Abel, and I challenged you to see yourself, in that story, as Cain himself. To ask someone to see themselves as someone who has a capacity to commit murder, an extreme expression of sin and evil, is no little task. So, if you did attempt that challenge, I hope you took it with seriousness. A challenge like that, at least coming from me, is meant to help you come to terms with the capacity you have to do evil, not that it means you would be a murderer, rather, it reveals that in us all lies the same impulse to subdue God to our own impulses. Sadly, that impulse can lead to very dark actions. This reality can be hard to admit to, or see, even if we are open to the notion. It is, however, a lot easier to see evil in others. Often what divided us as people is that we see not only evil in people but also their minor imperfections, and we characterize people as “other”, placing them into the realm of “against me”. They are apart of the other tribe, party, group or outdated and we willfully cast the other out. As a result, we begin to see the other as the evil outsider and ourselves as good and noble. In a way we can end up feeling like the world and its people are against us, and our understanding of right and goodness.
When we
turn on the news we can experience this feeling of opposition, especially when we see so much harshness in our world, it can be hard
not to feel a sense of loss. It can be like we are losing the gift of the world and each
other to the shadows. If you have felt like this, do not worry you are not alone.
This sense of loss can be described in two ways: sorrow or pessimism. We often,
in my opinion, are caught between these two feelings. Zacharias notes a quote
from G.K. Chesterton, which sheds a wonderful light on this feeling. “Sorrow
is founded on the value of something, and pessimism upon the value of nothing.”[1]
If you feel sorrow, I believe, that it is good news because it means that
within yourself you still hold onto a belief that there is an intrinsic value
in the people of the world and in creation itself. To me this also implies that
you still hold, whether you know it or not, and kernel of faith in God. Pessimism
and I would add nihilism run the course to meaninglessness, which in turn mean
that the evils we witness have no claim to be called evil, we just don’t like
them. The materialist and naturalist hit this problem, because if all of
reality is merely formed out of accident, then all things are truly subjective
and ultimately there is no grand moral objectivity to govern. Which would mean
that Cain killing Abel is about as value neutral as going for a walk.
The devotional begins with: Romans 5:1-5
Therefore,
since we have been justified through faith, we[a] have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained
access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we[c] also
glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces
perseverance; perseverance, character;
and character, hope. And hope does not put us
to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through
the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Second Thought: One thing I have come to appreciate with age is that my
emotions, even the ones that are unpleasant, are there for a reason. When I
allow my emotion to serve God and not myself, my emotions will be a compass
pointing me towards God. When I see something that makes me angry, my anger usually
is pointing me toward injustice. And when I feel sorrow, I often find my
feelings are telling me something cruel or unnatural has occurred. Now how I
react to these feelings is another thing all together. If I let my anger
towards injustice cause me to lash out in ways that are unjust, violent,
destructive, then I do fall to sin and add to the evils in the world. Same
would go for my sorrow, if my sorrow caused me to withdraw and give up, the I would be
sinking into a much worse situation than if I had let my sorrow call me to
empathy, compassion, mercy, and good works.
The fact that we look upon a hostile world with sorrow and anger does not
mean there is no hope, rather it means that in you the law of God was written
upon your heart, a law which tells you that there is an intrinsic value to your
fellow man and the creation in which you dwell.
Continual Work: Spend some time watching or reading the news, (I always
recommend that is it news which comes from multiple perspectives, i.e., if you
follow more conservative media try watching liberal media, or vice vera – any
time you do an experiment, it is always best to be outside your comfort zone.)
and notice the emotions you feel, what do they truly call you towards, and what
sin waits for you to do otherwise?
What Rev. Jacob is Working On: I feel bad for my mother sometimes, whenever
she comes to visit me and asks me how I am doing, I often unload the
wealth of emotion which has grown in me from my constant looking at news articles and updates
from around the world. Sometimes we do need to take breaks from the sorrows and
just enjoy the good things in life too. Like family.
Prayer for your day: God, help us orient our minds, hearts, and
spirits to Your will. Let our thoughts navigate the chaos of the world, let our
emotions show us cause to react, but our spirits in line with Yours move us to
react in the righteous path, rather than a destructive one. We ask for the
courage and strength to navigate this journey of life and the hope which exists
in our sorrow and anger to be known above all. In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.
Artistic Close: Sorrow does not need to be a prison, let it be a
key to your adventure and calling into the world to make a difference, and
bring Christ’s message of love and salvation to those who truly need it.
Melancholy (1876) by Odilon Redon. Original
from the Art Institute of Chicago. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel.
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