It is wonderful how God chooses to teach us new truths about His Word. The Book continually comes alive, as my friend Brother Stan Smith put it recently, “No matter how many times I come back to a passage, it is always expanding; it never gets smaller.” I am so very excited about the fact that God’s Word has expanded to me, once again, and I want to share it with you.
The back story for the parable we are going to discuss is the rich young ruler. A short summation of the story has the rich young ruler coming to Jesus and asking Him what he must do to gain eternal life. Jesus first tells him to follow the commandments; he responds that he had kept them since he was a child. Then Jesus tells him he needs one more thing to be complete; sell everything that you have and give it to the poor. Ouch! We all say. Not so fast. Mark tells us that Jesus looked on him and loved him; and it is in this context that he tells the young man what he is missing. He wasn’t trying to send him away financially injured; Christ was trying to send him away with the best that He could give him. This is not some kind of curt dismissal.
You see, most of us, and I am speaking of Christians, can barely get our mind, or more to the point our will around giving a tenth of what is “ours” to God. Now, here is Jesus telling this man that he has to give everything away; not because he wanted him to go away sorrowful, but because he wanted him to go his way filled with joy. He presented him with the opportunity of a lifetime, and indeed the same opportunity is extended down through time to you and me. Namely, to take God at His word and let Him worry about the blessings. The young man went away sorrowful, not because he could not do what Jesus said, but because he would not do what Jesus said. And if you think that you are in the clear on this, what would you do if Christ ask you to sell all that you have and give it away?
More tomorrow loved ones. . .
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