When he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was
very rich. —Luke 18:23
{CHAMBERS} “The
rich young ruler went away from Jesus speechless with sorrow, having nothing to
say in response to Jesus’ words. He had no doubt about what Jesus had said or
what it meant, and it produced in him a sorrow with no words with which to
respond. Have you ever been there? 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. […] 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.” “Sell all that you have…” (Luke
18:22). In other words, rid yourself before God of everything that might be
considered a possession until you are a mere conscious human being standing
before Him, and then give God that. That is where the battle is truly fought—
in the realm of your will before God. […] Discouragement is disillusioned self-love,
and self-love may be love for my devotion to Jesus— not love for Jesus Himself.”
{ELGIN} All of us
have remnants of our old nature that we can seems to shake .. or worse .. that
we don’t want to shake or give up. Why? Because
in those things, we find comfort and assurance.
In our minds, they meet a great need in our lives. A need that we fear the Lord cannot or will
not meet. It might be a relationship or
perhaps a habit or perhaps something about our personality. In their desperation, people very often do
things that bring physical or emotional harm to themselves, convinced that the
harm is worth the benefit they derive.
Why don’t they let whatever it is go, convinced that the loss will be
worth the benefit they will derive by laying it down at the Lord’s feet and
trusting in Him and not themselves. There are so many verses in the Bible that
assure us of God’s love and provision. The
problem is, we don’t believe it.
Someone
once said the only part of the Bible that you believe is the part that you obey. Think about that. If the Bible says – Cast all your cares on
Him – Be anxious for nothing – Trust in the Lord with your all – Come to Me all
you that are weary and heavy laden – God is the God of all comfort – Offer yourself
as a living sacrifice. Oh the list goes
on, and while we admit that the Word is Truth and trustworthy, we refuse to
walk in that truth but cling to that which will not give us the life that we so
desperately seek. This new life we live is
a life of faith. And if we are not walking in it, it is because we lack faith.
The point of this devotion is not to condemn or judge but to encourage. We all struggle with our flesh and the conflict between our flesh
and our new spiritual nature. But thank
God, we have victory over death and sin through Jesus Christ. We must embrace that victory in every aspect
of our lives. We can only do that with
God’s help. “Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Look full in His wonderful face.
And the things of earth will go strangely dim, in the light of His glory
and grace.”
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