Wholly Invested

In today’s episode, Emily Hatfield explores what it means to be wholly invested in Jesus Christ. We understand investment in everyday life — in books, TV shows, vacations, even motherhood — but what does it look like to be fully committed to the Lord and His work?

Using encouragement from 1 Peter 4, this episode challenges believers to rethink suffering, endurance, and wholehearted devotion. True investment in Christ means we don’t quit when following Him becomes uncomfortable — we stay faithful all the way to the end.

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Creators and Guests

Host

Emily Hatfield

Author, Podcaster, Ladies Speaker

What is Wifey Wednesdays?

Wifey Wednesdays: A show for women that focuses on the Titus 2 principle: learning to love our husband and our children, and being the keepers at home that God intends for us to be. Wifey Wednesdays, hosted by Emily Hatfield, is released every Wednesday.

1 Peter 4:1-3 choosing to suffer for Christ offers a protection from sin — invested, despite what it costs

Hello and welcome to wifey Wednesdays, a podcast for women who are seeking to be the best wives they can be. I’m your host, Emily Hatfield, and this is the show where the plan is always to do things God’s way, especially our marriages.

On today’s episode we’re going to be talking about what it means to be wholly invested.

We know what investment means, right? What you’re putting into something. How much effort. How much of you. If you’re invested in a TV show or book, you want to see how it unfolds and where it’s going and how it ends. You’re not going to watch for nine seasons and then just quit before getting to the series finale. You’re not going to read 400 pages of a book and then stop shy of the final chapter. We know what it means to be invested. We say it when we’re talking about a breaking news story — something’s happening and we’re all in - we are focused on the outcome.

So what does it mean to be wholly invested in the Lord? What does it mean to be wholly invested in His work?

I think there are some parallels for what we’ve just said. It’s going all in - it’s not quitting before seeing it through. It’s giving full attention and care. It’s talking about it and reading about it and searching through it to see what all you can dig out of it that you might have missed the first pass.

In 1 Peter 4, Peter is urging Christians to be all in - to be wholly invested. Chapter 4 verses 1-3 says, “since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of his time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.” Skip down to verse 12 - Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.”

Alright, let’s recap. Peter begins that chapter by saying - it’s time to rethink suffering. Christ suffered, so why shouldn’t you? We aren’t put on earth to live for self. No, the time is past for us be thinking like the gentiles, who only do whatever they feel like and what feels good. Instead, it is time to be invested in thinking like Jesus wants us to think — and if thinking that way causes you to suffer, you are blessed. Don’t suffer because of sin — suffer because people in the darkness don’t like when the light shines. Suffer like Jesus suffered, and you are blessed.

Ok, so what does this have to do with being wholly invested? In a word - everything.

I am not going to suffer for things that I am not invested in.

I was invested in having a baby — and so I endured a lot of pain throughout pregnancy and in childbirth. I was invested in nursing my child, and I endured a lot of pain and discomfort and stress and sleeplessness because I was invested. On a much more ridiculous scale - I like to go to Disney World (it’s the travel agent part of me). You know what hurts? Walking 20,000 steps a day for like four days. But you know what? I put up with the pain in my feet and legs because I’m invested in being there, and let’s be real, I’ve invested to be there.

If we get it about vacations and childbirth and TV shows and movies…why do we miss it when it comes to Christianity? Why do we think we can just glide through life, missing hardship and difficulty? Why do we give up when something becomes hard? Why do we whine and complain at any amount of work we need to put in? Why do we expect that God will shield us from suffering for Jesus, when He’s actually told us the opposite will be true?

Sometimes, I’m afraid we want to be invested in the blessing side of Christianity but not truly invested in all of it. We don’t want to go all-in on suffering and discomfort. We don’t want to be ostracized or made fun of. We don’t want to strain family ties. We want to be all in on getting God’s blessings of forgiveness. We are all in on needing grace. But are we invested in His cause — in seeing it all the way to the end — when the middle part is going to be long and messy and uncomfortable and categorized as suffering?

I want to be. I want to be invested in the cause of Jesus. I want to be so invested in Him and in His story that I long to study…that I long to talk to Him…that I long to be with His people and hear from His word and sing praises to His name. I want to be so invested that I can’t help but talk about it - just like I can’t wait to talk to that one friend whose watching the same show as me or who is apart of my same book club. I want to be so invested that you can tell - my eyes are fixed on Jesus and I am digging in to every detail to get as much as I can out of this lifetime I’ve been given to glorify Him.

I think the key to becoming more invested starts where Peter did in chapter 4 — he said, “since therefore Christ suffered…” and that’s it. That’s the focus. That’s where I have to be. I have to be willing to put everything else away - push everything else to the side - in order to focus on what He did for me. When I spend time looking deeply into the suffering of our Lord — the suffering He went through for MY sin — then I am going to become so enamored by Him that everything else will continually pale in comparison. But the less time I spend with Him — the less I look at what He went through for me — the more likely I am to let my investment wane. The more likely I am to let my feelings of apathy grow instead of my zeal.

I want to be invested in Jesus. I want to be like the man who stumbled upon the treasure in the field and then sold everything he had in order to purchase that field — because the treasure had captivated him and it meant more to him than anything else. I want Jesus to be that treasure for me. I want Him to mean more to me than anything else. I want Him to receive the best of my attention - the best of my focus - the best of my time and energy. I want Him to be the One that everything else revolves around — I don’t want to squeeze Him in when I can.

Do you remember when you used to have to actually be at your home in order to watch your favorite TV shows?

I remember growing up watching Disney channel, and certain times your favorite boy band would be scheduled to make an appearance — and guess what? We were gonna be home to watch that if at all possible. Forget whatever else was going on — I was invested and I was going to miss other things in order to watch that.

I remember being at school on 9/11. I remember that we did basically nothing else the rest of the day except watch the news and try to figure out what was going on. Nothing else mattered. We were invested in what was happening.

Now, I’m not saying we can forget every other responsibility and spend every moment of every day reading our Bibles and going to worship and praying. The Bible still says if a man won’t work then neither shall he eat — we can’t be lazy or shirk responsibility while we live here on earth. But we CAN orient everything around Jesus instead of just trying to fit Him in.

Earlier today, my son was talking about the devil and he said - If I saw that snake, I would just run away from it and not listen to it. And I said, that is a great idea. The problem is, Satan doesn’t attack us today looking like a snake. That might be easier. Instead, he’s sneaky and tries to attack us in other things and in other ways - distracting us from Jesus and trying to get us to focus on what we want to do. I think as adults we kind of feel the same way my son does - if I see Satan, I’m gonna resist him….but we’re just looking for him in the obvious snake form, we’re not suspecting him in the other, maybe more dangerous ways — like distraction from service, selfishness, and misprioritization. We want big, obvious sins to avoid — not having to guard the nooks and crannies of our hearts where sin likes to lurk and dwell all while feeling good and able to make us justify it.

If we want to be wholly invested in Jesus, we need to focus on what He went through for us, orient our lives and schedules around Him and be ready and willing to suffer for Him, too. Let’s go into our day and our week expecting to suffer because of our beliefs. Let’s expect that the world won’t approve. Let’s expect that things might be uphill — but let’s be encouraged that no hill is too big for the Lord to help us over. Nothing we can go through is too much for Him to strengthen us through. If we are brought to it - He will bring us through it.

Peter was invested. He was ready to suffer for Christ’s sake because he had seen what Jesus went through for him. Let’s spend time looking at what our Lord endured for us so that we, too, become fully invested. So that we spend our lives seeking Him and working for Him and suffering for Him.

I’m ashamed to say that I’ve been more invested in other things throughout my life. I’ve invested a lot of time and energy into things that just truly didn’t matter. But I want to be intentional about what I give the most of my attention to and the most of my time to and the most of my energy to. Because where my time and focus and energy is - that’s where my investment is. I want to be invested in the Lord. I want Him to receive the best of my time and focus and energy. I want Him to receive the best of me. I don’t want to put anything or anyone anywhere near Him and His place in my life. I want to be wholly invested in His cause so that He becomes my life — He becomes everything, and all the rest has to fit around Him and the prominent place He holds in my heart.

Let’s seek to be wholly invested. Let’s pray for opportunities to suffer for His name. Let’s pray for ways to let go of the other things we’re too invested in. Let’s pray that God defeat the other things in our lives — things that are bordering on idolatry. Let’s ask that God break down everything that gets in the way of being wholly invested in Him. I’m praying that today, and I hope you’ll join me in that prayer so that we can become a force that Satan just simply cannot reckon with — because we are on the Lord’s side, and the devil doesn’t stand a chance.

Well that’s gonna do it for today’s episode of Wifey Wednesdays. I hope you’ll join me next time as we continue in our studies of what it means to wholly belong to Jesus. Coming up we will be looking at what it means to be wholly known. Until then, though, love God - love your husband.