My Daily Bible Reading
21 Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”
(Mark 10:21, New King James Version)
What do you feel is holding you back?
Is it material?
Is it emotional?
Is it that person down the street?
Or someone whose friendship has gone up in flames? Or just a complete stranger that rubbed you the wrong way?
“Our Lord never places anyone’s personal holiness above everything else when He calls a disciple” shared by Oswald Chambers in his book, “Upmost for His Highest”, but how often do we use that against someone we may have a disagreement with or even unconciously in the spirit of wanting to “better up” someone?
And for what?
Gain in this world that is so temporary?
When Jesus met the rich man in Mark, Matthew Henry Commentary (MHC), shares what happens:
This young ruler showed great earnestness. He asked what he should do now, that he might be happy for ever.
Most ask for good to be had in this world; any good, Ps 4:6; he asks for good to be done in this world, in order to enjoy the greatest good in the other world. Christ encouraged this address by assisting his faith, and by directing his practice. But here is a sorrowful parting between Jesus and this young man.
He asks Christ what he shall do more than he has done, to obtain eternal life; and Christ puts it to him, whether he has indeed that firm belief of, and that high value for eternal life which he seems to have. Is he willing to bear a present cross, in expectation of future crown?
The young man was sorry he could not be a follower of Christ upon easier terms; that he could not lay hold on eternal life, and keep hold of his worldly possessions too. He went away grieved. See Mt 6:24, Ye cannot serve God and mammon. (Mk 10:23-31)
We cannot have the glory and the good of the world if it counters and interferes with that of our journey with our Heavenly Father. If it distracts us from His real purpose we must be open to the sacrifice of giving up this world so we can do His work.
Do we know what it means to truly have unconditional, identification and surrendor to our Father? Are we willing? Or do we hold on to this world and seek our glory here and build our treasures that we know in the end, are just rust and decay while Him and His word is eternity?
Not many of us can.
Oswald Chambers shares, “Where you are soft and pliable with God is where the Lord has looked at you.”
This is something interesting to look at and to contemplate where in our lives are we soft and pliable that it’s not us that people will see, but our Heavenly Father.
But complete abandonment is not very easy to do is it?
Chambers continues,
“If you are hard and vindictive, insistent on having your own way, and always certain that the other person is more likely to be iin the wrong then you are, then there are whole areas of your nature that has never been transformed by His gaze.”
Not a very warm and fuzzy thought, but how we interact not just with non-believers, but with believers can speak volumes about our state of maturity.
Isn’t there a saying that it’s our actions not our words that will define us?
The hardness about Chambers devotional and reading Mark 10:21 about the rich person, is that it is a reminder in today’s materialistic world and yes, even in the blogging world, we tend to over depend too much on what we have, how many friends we have, our statistics, our visits, the praises and it’s not a bad thing, not for anyone else, but ourselves, to pull back and take a blogging/facebook break or just take that much needed step back and step into Him to refocus who, where and what we really are.
What if we were told, give up everything….give up our Facebook, our blogs, our ministries, our careers, our whatever to just serve Him, quietly and without prescence or people knowing…can we really do it?
Interesting thought.
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