The Loaded Question

~~~ Judges 2:11-19 ~~~ Psalm 106 ~~~ Matthew 19:16-22 ~~~

 

A young man approached Jesus and said,
“Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?”

 

Jesus tells this good young man to sell everything and follow him.

The young man turns and sadly walks away, perhaps feeling rejected.

This man believed he was leading a good moral life.

He obeyed the commandments, but wondered if he needed to do more.

 

I give credit to this man for asking what more could

he do to lead a holy life.

Sometimes we do not get the answers we expect.

Jesus could see deep into the soul of this man.

Jesus zeroed right in to his core values.

Jesus knew that his material possessions held the place

of importance in his heart.

 

Jesus has a way of quickly and accurately getting to the real issue.

He is like a skilled surgeon with his scalpel.

Jesus did not minimize keeping the commandments;

in fact he did not even praise the man for keeping them.

Instead Jesus conversed with this man on a personal level.

This was not some generic comment addressed to the crowd.

This reply was carefully crafted especially for this man, at this time.

 

They served their idols,
which became a snare for them. 

 

Obviously selling all of his possessions was a huge snare for him.

He was comfortable with his life, not realizing

that in order to advance in holiness he must make some sacrifices.

 

 

What possessions are you holding

that interfere with your desire for greater holiness?

 

You may not be making 'golden calves' and kneeling down before them.

But what does have a grasp on your heart?

 

We each have something; I suspect in the world today

 it might even be our smart phones.

I know they are useful and necessary, but...

It might be the games we are addicted to playing on our phones.

It might even be the amount of time social media consumes in each day.

 

If you were to stand before Jesus today and ask the same question,

...What do I still lack?

 

Would you be prepared to hear his personal answer to you?

It is a bit unsettling to reflect on such a meeting with the Lord.

It may make you feel uncomfortable

because Jesus could tell you the very thing

you do not want to hear.

 

I guess the moral of this story is...

be careful what you ask the Lord.

His answer may have you too turning and walking away sad.

 

Blessings come in being able to accept the answers God has for us.