Everyone has something in their life that they appreciate, enjoy, love, and even cherish. Those things that are important to us and that we would not be willing to give up unless we simply had to. Many Christians would say that they would easily give up everything for Jesus. Even if was the most important thing to them in their life after God. That is a fairly easy statement to make though as few are ever forced to give up things in their life in order to follow Jesus. Within the pages of the Bible, we get to see such a decision play out firsthand.
A wealthy young man came to Jesus to find out what he needed to do in order to receive eternal life. Jesus told him to keep the commands which he said he had already done for years. So Jesus moved on to the one thing holding him back. His possessions. The young man was told to give all he had away and then to follow after Jesus.
Mark 10:21 (ESV)
21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
We all know the story. The young man turned and walked away with his head down in sadness. He was not willing to give up his possessions even if doing so meant he would be granted eternal life. As far as we know from the accounts of scripture the young man never came back and never received salvation.
Mark 10:22 (ESV)
22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
You must ask yourself why God chose to include this account in scripture. Considering the fact that every word is inspired by Him and meant to teach us. As well, the closing verse in the gospel of John points to the fact that Jesus did this so much during His time on earth, no book could contain it all. That means there is no shortage of accounts that could have replaced this one in the Bible. So what did God decided to include this one?
2 Timothy 3:16–17 (ESV)
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
John 21:25 (ESV)
25 Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
Is it meant to teach that all Christians should give away all they have in order to follow Jesus? That the only way we will be able to receive eternal life is by our willingness to give up all we have? No, that would not align with much of the gospel message. This account should open our eyes to the fact that nothing in our life should keep us from serving God. Christians should be willing to give up anything if that would keep them from serving the Lord with their whole heart. Nothing should be more important in our lives than God.
But here is the really tricky part. We serve an all-knowing God. The rich young man was faced with the choice which showed where his true allegiance laid. Yet many of us will never have to make that choice yet God knows our heart and knows if we put anything before Him. The Lord does not have to give us a choice as He already knows what we would choose. Whether we would let go of the things of this world we love and choice Him or vice versa.
Psalm 147:5 (ESV)
5 Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
his understanding is beyond measure.
1 John 3:20 (ESV)
20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.
Proverbs 16:2 (ESV)
2 All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,
but the Lord weighs the spirit.
Psalm 44:21 (ESV)
21 would not God discover this?
For he knows the secrets of the heart.
As Christians, it is important that we often take inventory of our lives. That we make sure we don’t value anything over our relationship with God. Ask yourself if you were asked to give up everything to follow Jesus, would anything give you pause? Is there anything you simply would not be willing to do without?
If something sticks out in your mind, don’t simply be content because you aren’t forced to make the choice. Realize you already have in your heart and take time to address the issue while you can. Pray about it. Enter a time of fasting. Possible even make the decision to give up whatever that thing may be in order to save yourself future heartbreak and the potential to be turned away at the gates.
Nothing in this life is important enough to separate you from God and cost you eternal salvation. Don’t walk away over things that will soon be gone as the young man did. Instead, choose to give up the things of this world in order to follow Jesus with your whole heart as the apostles did. Your reward will be far greater than anything you had to give up.
Mark 10:28–30 (ESV)
28 Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” 29 Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.
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