Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. — Matthew 19:21-22 (KJV)
This is part of the passage about The Rich Young Man, which starts at verse 16. Many people butcher the passage by believing and teaching that you have to give up all your finances and/or be poor if you wish to serve God. However, the directive here was specifically given to the rich young man to do that; not everyone. That said, we are still to give our tithes and offerings to God first always!
What we, the readers, are to take away from this passage is that we need to give up whatever is holding us back from fully committing to God. Giving up some things will definitely cause pain, but I guarantee you that the pain will be worth it in the end! In the case of some, that may very well be money just like the rich young ruler. However, considering that most people are not rich 🙂 it’s probably going to be something else in your life. Personally, I have had to surrender many things to follow God. And, I do not regret for one day any of my choices! Where some of them painful? Absolutely! But, I gave them up willingly and with cheer (no grumbling), because I love Him more. When sacrifice for Him becomes a joy, then you are on the journey to becoming dead to self. If that sentence bothers you, then please (re)read Post #30 – The Fundamentals of a Christian Life Part 7 and Post #31 – Follow-up on The Fundamentals of a Christian Life.
If you read Post #11 – The Ten Commandments Part 2, you’ll remember that we discussed the very first commandment which says “You shall have no other gods before a me.” When God refers to a god, He looks at what people put in their hearts before Him. The rich young ruler had at least two gods, because he was following the commandments of God by law, Jesus even pointed that out, but his heart was with his money, because that was his true god.
If anything in your life takes priority to God, and that’s the key word here: “priority“, then God is referring to that as your god. As noted in the passage, you can be doing plenty for God, but what/where is His priority? Are your children, spouse, family, work, or entertainment your priority? Even beyond that, and most of all, is it your ego? Your ideologies and/or your way of thinking that are your priority? If God asks you to give up any of these, or anything else, will you be willing? Or will you walk away sorrowfully too, like the rich young man?
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. — Matthew 6:24 (KJV)
If you are not saved/redeemed please do so today.
Come to God open, empty and without statements.
Ask him to be real to you and believe in Him.
Humble yourself before Him, confess who you are, and tell Him that you are sorry for your sins.
Ask Him to forgive you and to come into your life and start a personal relationship.
Believe this and be born again!
May God bless and keep all who read this.
May God bless and keep all brothers and sisters, new and old in the faith, in his name.
With his love and mine,
Chrom