“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23).

Writer Selma Lagerlöf tells the story of a knight from Italy. This was the Middle Ages, the time of the Crusades. He was a warrior, capable of dark things. 

When he got to the Holy Land he found himself at the tomb of Jesus. He was deeply moved. He lit a candle and made a vow to bring the flame back to his hometown. He would do everything in his power to keep the flame from going out.

It was a long journey, so you can imagine how hard it would have been. He protected it from the wind. At one point, he was robbed by bandits, and yet he managed to ensure the flame kept flicking. Countless other calamities also came his way.

In the end, he persevered. He arrived at his hometown with the flame still flickering. 

The amazing thing about his story, however, isn’t just that he made it. It was that he experienced personal transformation in the process. His single, solitary devotion to keeping that flame of Christ alive made him a new person. He had left Italy a certain kind of man, but returned as an entirely new creation.*

When you hear the word “devotion,” what do you think of? Perhaps you think about family devotions or your personal habits of prayer and Bible-reading. All of that is good. The word itself traces back to the idea of making a promise to God. It has to do with following through on that commitment. When we do so we are showing that we are being “devoted” to him.

What we can miss is that showing our devotion to God isn’t just an act of faithfulness toward him, but an act of yielding within ourselves; it is a way of setting aside our selfish agendas and inviting God to do his work.

In a world where you can be devoted to anything—the news, sports, pop culture, money, popularity, your job—be devoted to God. Not only does he smile upon your faith, but he uses it to transform you to be more like his Son, Jesus Christ.

Notes:
-“Who are you when absolutely everything is stripped away?” Click here. Sermon (Daniel 1).
-*As re-told in: J. Heinrich Arnold, Freedom from Sinful Thoughts (Walden: Plough Publishing House, 1997), 68.
-Bible quotes are from the ESV.