"One thing you lack, go your way, sell whatever you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up your cross and follow Me"
Mark 10:21 NKJV
Riches can get in the way of our walk with Jesus. This rich, young man wanted to follow Jesus but he was pulled two ways (1) he wanted to follow Jesus (2) but he wanted to hang on to his riches as well. And this can be a burden to many people today.
Jesus is not against wealth, not at all. But what He is against is when we make our riches more important than Him. You see, we can't take our riches to heaven when we die; but, we can go to heaven with the Spirit of God within us and, meet with Jesus. There is a big difference. This was what was missing with the rich young man. He wanted both.
If we sit counting our money up and investing here and there to make more, we can be on the way to making riches our god. I'm not saying that people can't invest and make more money but, what I am saying, if this practice leads to us leaving Jesus out of the equation, we have it wrong. The testing point is, what would happen to you if, you lost all of your money? It can and does happen. It would be devastating for this to happen but, would you sink or swim? Would you have the feeling that your life is over or, would you still have a strong faith in Jesus and start again.
When we make riches e.g. our bank balance, nice car, luxury home and fancy job and other things, our foundation and main stay in life, are we not making this our God? This was what Jesus was asking the rich young man. He was saying to him, 'would you be willing to lose all of this and then come and follow me?' Sadly, the rich young man wanted both - riches and Jesus. There is nothing wrong with this but, Jesus was making a point here; it's easy to follow Jesus when you have money on your side, but what if you haven't got any money, would you be willing to rely on your faith to receive some and still follow Him?
Whether you have a lot or, not so much, God encourages us to give to Him for His work. If you are 'well off' you can be such a blessing because you will be able to give far more than most. You see, it is God's money in the first place, and He just wants us to be willing to honour Him with what He has given us.
When we strive to be richer in life and leave God out, He is what is missing. If you feel there is something missing in your walk with God, check all of this out with Him.
Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.
dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com
If you would like to contact me, CLICK HERE
Member of the National Association of Christian Ministers
Why not order my Daily Commentary from Amazon - Paperback or Kindle
Check it out
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B084G9S4FD/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i2
No comments:
Post a Comment
Leave a message