Something many people do not know about me is I like MMA (Mixed Martial Arts). I like the strategy and the strength, it’s something I would never be able to do. I admire athletes and the commitment and dedication they have. I used to watch MMA and fall asleep at night to it. Well, truth be told I like watching and falling asleep to most sports. I love sitting on the couch while Dean is watching a game - baseball or football - and falling asleep. I had to get an infusion treatment for most of my fourth pregnancy. Because the treatment made me sleepy and nauseous, I would put sports on so I could fall asleep.

It may not seem like it, because there is a lot of sleeping, but I really do like sports and am interested in them. I like knowing when the Yankees are winning, especially against the Red Sox. I often cheer for both sides when they make a good play, which is frustrating to some people. The thing about sports is I’m interested in them but not invested. Dean has the fantasy teams and knows the stats and can talk about things I have no clue about because he’s invested.

There was this show about MMA fighters who would compete against each other for something, I don’t know what because I would fall asleep. But it would tell their stories and then I would become invested in them winning. I would want to stay up to to see if “my guy” won. I had to stop watching it because I would want to stay up way too late. See, invested.

Now, put on a good movie or TV show and I can get invested in it, I stay awake. Dean does not. He is always falling asleep. Shoot, let's be real, if I’m invested enough I’ll watch a movie with bad acting to see how it ends. Dean and I make a good pair, he fills me in on all things sports and I tell about what he missed in the movie or show. ;)

Being interested in something is more of a take it or leave it thing. BUT being invested in something usually means we poured something of ourselves into it, it cost us something and we care if it fails or succeeds.
Being invested is another level of commitment.

We may be interested in knowing God more, but are we invested enough to read His Word daily?
We may be Interested in being in shape, but are we invested to work out regularly?
You get the idea…being invested in something takes more of a commitment from us.

Let’s look a King Joash in 2 Kings 13:18&19:

“Then he said, ‘Now pick up the other arrows and strike them against the ground.’
So the king picked up them up and struck the ground three times.
But he man of God was angry with him,
‘You should have struck the ground five to six times!’ he exclaimed.
"‘Then you would have beaten Aram until it was entirely destroyed.
Now you will be victorious only three times.’”

This doesn’t seem to have a lot in common with what I’m talking about, but hold on…

King Joash went to Elisha’s death bed to get his final blessing and instructions. Elisha had him shoot an arrow out the window and then pick up the rest and strike the ground with them. Maybe Joash felt silly striking the ground with arrows. Maybe he really didn’t understand what that had to do with anything he was facing. Whatever the reason, he only struck the ground three times and Elisha got angry. What if he had put some energy behind it and really smacked that ground with 5 or 6 good whacks?

Joash was interested in doing what Elisha asked but not really invested.
Elisha told Joash he would have completely wiped out his enemy, not just defeat them three times.

David Platt shares: “…God would give to Joash according to his faith and obedience…and because he stopped short, he will miss out on the fullness of the blessing God desired for him.”

I don’t know about you, but I want ALL of the fullness of every blessing God wants to give me.

“If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones.
But if you are dishonest in little things,
you won’t be honest with great responsibilities.”
Luke 16:10

In the areas of my life where I struggle with being truly invested in, do I really trust and believe God that being faithful and obedient to the little things is important?

God is looking for us to be faithful and obedient … invested in … what He has before us to do.
Whatever season we are in. Whatever thing we are being challenged in with our faith, our health etc. Whatever our day-to-day life looks like.
Even when it’s hard or silly or mundane or we don’t understand why.

Our interest will only take us so far and it’s easy to quit. To see real change, we need to become invested and it will cost us something.

Does our unbelief that every thing we do matters, sway our decisions? Perhaps if we truly got that, we would behave differently. I know I’m really being challenged in those things.
Father, help me with my unbelief and to be faithful and obedient in my life.

Are you interested or invested? What would be one small, next step you can take to go from interested to invested in an area of your life?

I hope you have a wonderful and amazing day!!
All My Love ~
Jodi xoxo

Let’s be email friends! Subscribe below. xo