Please pray:
Dear God in heaven,
I adore you and give you all my praise and worship. I confess that I sin daily and that I am by nature sinful and unclean, deserving of eternal separation from you. Thank you for the gift of another day, the gift of eternity spent with you, the sacrifice of your Son on the cross of Calvary, and for so much more. Please hear my prayer and allow me to consider what you have to say to me this day.
I pray this all in the powerful name of Jesus. Amen!
Listen to the word of the Lord:
Matthew 19:16-22
16 Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”
18 “Which ones?” he inquired.
Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’[a] and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’[b]”
20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
What is Jesus saying to me through this scripture today?
It seems easy for me to distance myself from the encounter this wealthy man had with Jesus. I don’t consider myself a wealthy man, yet I know deep in my heart that just being a middle-class American puts me in the top 1% when it comes to the world’s wealth. And I know there are a number of possessions that it would be hard for me to give up if I were put in a similar situation. I have to face up to the fact that my unwillingness is a form of idolatry. The 1st commandment states, “Thou shalt have no other god before me.”
If you find yourself in the same struggle, perhaps we need a change of perspective. May our focus be on “treasure in heaven” rather than the things of this world.
God grant it for Jesus’ sake!
Mark