A man came to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to have eternal life?”
Jesus said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? Only God is good. If you want to have eternal life, you must obey his commandments.”
“Which ones?” the man asked.
Jesus answered, “Do not murder. Be faithful in marriage. Do not steal. Do not tell lies about others. Respect your father and mother. And love others as much as you love yourself.” The young man said, “I have obeyed all of these. What else must I do?”
Jesus replied, “If you want to be perfect, go sell everything you own! Give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven. Then come and be my follower.” When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he was very rich.
Matthew 19:16-22
Jesus asked the rich young man to go through a two stage process of obedience in getting ready to follow Him. He first told him to sell "everything you own" and secondly to give the money to the poor. Why did Jesus not simply tell the man to give away everything he owned and then follow Him? The Bible does not say, but could it be that Jesus wanted the young man to know exactly how much he was giving up to follow Jesus? The price of following Jesus was not generic, it was specific. And Jesus wanted the man to account for every penny he was giving up for Him.
The sad part of this story is that the man decided not to follow Jesus, so he did not sell what he had.
When you ask Jesus what you must do to be His follower what is the demand He makes on your life? Does Jesus tell everyone who comes to Him to sell everything? No He does not, but there is one common imperative that Jesus makes. Jesus requires that you abandon any love that would compete with Him! For the rich young man that love was money. For some it might be career, or education, or status in life. For some it might be reputation or even dreams of greatness. Whatever it is that would come between you and Jesus must be sold and the proceeds given to the poor before you can follow Him!
"Lord Jesus, show me clearly today if there is something standing in the way of my love for You. Help me to put a "For Sale" sign on everything that needs to go in my life! Thank you Jesus. Amen."
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