When he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was
very rich. —Luke 18:23
“Has God’s Word ever come to you, pointing out an area of
your life, requiring you to yield it to Him? Maybe He has pointed out certain
personal qualities, desires, and interests, or possibly relationships of your
heart and mind. If so, then you have often been speechless with sorrow. The
Lord will not go after you, and He will not plead with you. But every time He
meets you at the place where He has pointed, He will simply repeat His words,
saying, “If you really mean what you say, these are the conditions.”[…] That is
where the battle is truly fought— in the realm of your will before God. […]
What Jesus says is difficult— it is only easy when it is heard by those who
have His nature in them. Beware of allowing anything to soften the hard words
of Jesus Christ.” CHAMBERS
“Did God really say?” (Genesis 3:1) That is the question that Satan asked Adam
and Eve. Fueling the desire to do what
they thought best. Encouraging them to redefine their relationship with God. You know what happened and if you have
forgotten, you might want to read Genesis again. There are consequences for obeying and for
disobeying. Choosing God’s best or
living with the result of choosing your own way. I am not suggesting that choosing to obey God
means you will avoid trouble in your life.
Following Jesus is not about that. We tend to think of our spiritual
life in terms of the physical. Not
getting sick. Having money to pay our
bills. Avoiding death even. What that reveals is that we lack an eternal
perspective. Listen, the disciples met
horrible deaths .. so their faith .. their time with Jesus did not prevent
that. There must be a bigger story than
the 70 or 80 years you walk on this planet.
And there is. You faith has both present
and eternal value. Your faith gives you
the perseverance to live this life, manifesting the fruit of the Spirit in
spite of what comes your way (Galatians 5: 22-13) and hope for the future with
the confidence that there is more waiting just beyond the horizon.
There is something going on, supernaturally, that we do not
fully understand, and won’t this side of heaven. You can consider the actions of the rich
young man in two ways. In one instance,
he was at the point of salvation and walked away. In another, he was saved but struggled with wanting
to cling to the things associated with his old nature. Either way, they both require obedience to
the Lord. Giving up those things that we
cling to as a way of maintaining control over our lives. Those things that we really have faith in. The point is, to live this new life rightly, we must put our faith wholly in
Jesus. And God really did say that! CHARLEY
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