Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Travel Light




An important man asked Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to have eternal life?”  Jesus said, “Why do you call me good? Only God is good.   You know the commandments: ‘Be faithful in marriage. Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not tell lies about others. Respect your father and mother.’ ”

He told Jesus, “I have obeyed all these commandments since I was a young man.”  When Jesus heard this, he said, “There is one thing you still need to do. Go and 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 man heard this, he was sad, because he was very rich.

Jesus saw how sad the man was. So he said, “It's terribly hard for rich people to get into God's kingdom!  In fact, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to get into God's kingdom.”

When the crowd heard this, they asked, “How can anyone ever be saved?” Jesus replied, “There are some things that people cannot do, but God can do anything.”

Luke 18:18-27

The rich man asked Jesus what he could do to have eternal life.  Jesus responded to the question by telling the rich man that he must sell everything that he had and give it to the poor and then come and follow Him!  Jesus knew that the man would not do that because he was very rich.

Somehow, we think that being rich sets a man free to do things that he could not do if he were poor.  When it comes to following Jesus the exact opposite is true.  Money and the things that come with riches war against being a daily follower of Jesus.  Riches require that they be managed and that you spend lots of time taking care that you don’t lose them!  

As a follower of Jesus, you can “travel light.”  You won’t need lots of money or things!  God can and will provide what you need, when you need it!  

Imagine a very rich professional boxer who insists that he have all his possessions with him in the boxing ring.  All he needs to fight is a pair of boxing gloves, shoes and shorts!  If he has more than that he will not be able to fight!

As a follower of Jesus, make sure that you have what you need to fight the “fight of faith” and not burden yourself down with the things of this world!  

“Lord Jesus, help me today to check the things and the money that I have and get rid of the those things that keep me from doing what You want me to do today!  Praise Your Name forever.  Amen.”

   

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