Is It Worth It?

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 46: Is It Worth It?

Opening Thought: Today's reading from Zacharias asks whether the pursuit of truth and the pursuit of God is worth it. The reader should be able to predict that a Christian apologist would give an affirming stance to the seeking of God and truth. Zacharias opens the reading by comparing the experience of astronauts, telling the story of how one atheist astronaut goes into space and upon experiencing the wonders of space says, “he looked for God but didn’t find Him.” In contrast, other astronauts flew around to the dark-side of the moon and quoted the first line in Genesis to show their marvel of God’s creation. We can all believe we are seekers of truth, but we may not all be seekers of God. The challenge of the atheistic worldview is that truth runs short because truth in atheism can only go as far as the material, every thing else is just subjective. In material atheism, moral truth, ethical truth, and philosophical truth become merely hypothetical nonsense or a best the common agreement among the masses, which also means that the truth of human value, the truth of moral law, the truth of justice and mercy all fall to the whims of the masses. Get enough people who think babies are a good lunch time snack, suddenly that is the new moral norm, that becomes the new truth that people must live by. The truth of intrinsic human value only exists because of God, and the truth of moral and ethical living only has a basis because of God’s existence. Zacharias puts it as, “truth matters because God matters. God matters comprehensively, and therefore truth matters.”

The belief in God, and particularly a Christian definition of God, allows for us to look upon all others as equal and worthy. It allows us to look upon all of creation as something worthy of celebration and enjoying, beauty, and wonder. It allows up to believe peace is not only possible but worth striving for, because peace in the heart of humanity speaks to the glory of God. Without God none of this is even worth mentioning because it is not real, everything is just particle colliding, and we are all just an accident.  

The devotional begins with: John 6:35-38

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.  For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.

Second Thought: The line “all those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away,” resonates with my spirit. I love the idea of the Father passing to Christ this Lordship over those who seek God’s truth. I would then expand Zacharias’ quote I mentioned earlier to say this, truth matters because God matters. God matters comprehensively, and therefore truth matters, and the truth of God is revealed to us through Christ Jesus, God’s revelation of truth is the Christ and therefore Christ is the willed focal point for humanity to seek out both God and God’s truth. There is a gift here, more then just throwing around titles and theological terms, to be a Christian is to also believe that truth is revealed. It is a beautiful image of the Truth and the truth seeker, reaching out to one another. It reminds me of the Sistine Chapel of Adam and God’s hand reaching out to one another. Though, the Sistine Chapel shows a passive Adam and an active God. Adam reclines resting his stretched-out arm upon his own knee while God has the whole heavenly host stretching Him out to Adam. How often do we rest our seeking for God upon and lean into ourselves rather than God, or hang the seeking for God’s truth to serve our own “truths”? It takes a lot of humility and strength to let go of the self and the world and fully invest into seeking God. That is why when the rich young man comes to Christ and asks him how to be perfect, Jesus tells him to sell everything, give the money to the poor, then to come follow Jesus. It had to be a total shift from just being a truth seeker, which he was – the rich young man was literally asking Jesus for truth on how to be perfect, but the answer was to seek God – not just truth.  

Continual Work: Spend some time looking at the Sistine Chapel’s image of Adam and God and picture yourself sitting where Adam is. What might you need to give up to move from being a passive truth seeker, to a passionate God seeker?

What Rev. Jacob is Working On: I feel blessed because I get to spend every day thinking and wondering about God, Creation, Salvation and the nuances of everything in between. Thank you, Jesus!

Prayer for your day: God, help us be truth seekers, but more than that, help us seek Your truth, the only truth that is. If we can humble ourselves and find the courage to let go of the material, and earthly traps, we can find a new life in You, and be truthful to our spirits. Amen.  

Artistic Close: In Christ there is a new Adam, which means through Christ we can better reach for God’s truth. Not only is Christ the revelation of Truth, but Christ is also the way of the truth, the gateway to God.