The Return That Keeps On Giving

I’ll admit. I am an online shopper and a returner. I’ve never been a shopper, but when I need something, I’ll often browse online first, looking for the best price. Some call it being Dutch, I like to think of it as being a good steward of our money. I mean the latter sounds a lot better, right? In all truthfulness, I try to think about every purchase I make. Yet sometimes it arrives, and it’s not what I was thinking it would be. Hence the need to return it.

Again, it just wasn’t what I thought it would be.

How many things do we “invest” in, and what it offers, just isn’t what we thought it would be? We pursue a certain lifestyle. A certain look in our homes. We try to instill a certain behavior in our children. We create our own online identities with filters that make us look tanner and our eyes brighter, all in search for something that will make us feel satisfied. Something that will give us the return we are looking for.

We pursue the pleasures of this earthly life, thinking we can have anything and everything, wanting it to “give” us something. We want it to deliver the feeling that we instantaneously felt when we first saw it. Yet it fails to satisfy, every time. The return wasn’t what we thought it would be.

What if there was something we could invest in that kept on giving, instead of leaving us with a temporary feeling of satisfaction and ultimately leaving us dissatisfied?

Well, guess what, there is nothing you have to buy There is nothing you have to drive to get. There is nothing you have to add to the to-do list. There is nothing you have to price compare. It’s free. It’s ever-present. And it’s yours for the taking. It’s a Savior who promises to rescue us from the entanglements of this world, set us free from the discontentment, and bring us to a place of utter humility, grace, rest and eternal fulfillment. A place of hope and truth.

And ultimately, it’s a gift that keeps on giving. Who doesn’t want to invest in something that keeps on giving? What if the time and effort we invested into the things of this world, we spent all the more time, investing in THE Savior? When I take time to think about God’s faithfulness in the past, I realize how his love just keeps on giving and giving. When I think about his provision, I realize how his sovereignty just keeps on giving and giving. When I think about his grace, I realize how the penalty he paid for MY sin, has freely given me the best return – eternal life.

I can’t help but take a step back and wonder, what I am investing in? Where do I put my hope? Where do I seek contentment? Where and how do I spend my time? What am I scrolling through? What’s the purpose in it? What am I listening to? Is it a message of hope? What am I shopping for? Will it offer the return I’m looking for? What am I thinking about? Do my thoughts reflect the image of God? Whatever it may be, the type of return it gives, is a tell-tale of what type of security it offers for my future.

I know my future has been secured by my Savior. Yet I continue to pursue, search, and marvel at the things of this earth, hoping for that same return. My friend, it will never fully satisfy. So let’s be pursuers of the Kingdom and “not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust^[a] destroy and where thieves break in and steal, ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)