Key Thought

It's the "because" word that is most important here. Jesus moved past commands to the heart issue for the young man -- he had great wealth and it was what separated him from total loyalty to God. To follow Jesus meant to leave everything behind for the work of the Kingdom, and the young man could not leave this behind. It is easy for us to be trivial with Jesus' demand. We can say, “Wealth was his God, or having many possessions was his problem, but that Jesus doesn't demand we all sell everything we have.” This is both correct and dangerous. It is correct in that the observation is true. It is dangerous, because the same barrier holds many of us back from Jesus. Many of us are affluent by world standards, but middle class by our affluent cultures standards. Let’s not remove the demand of Jesus too quickly from our hearts. Let’s let it linger long enough to see if we would react differently than the young man. Let’s be honest about the grip that possessions, wealth, convenience, and power have on us. There was no joy for the rich young man in his decision to keep what he had acquired. There was only sadness: sadness that he had found the Kingdom, but wouldn't pay the price, and sadness that he rejected the Kingdom to keep what he valued most. The real question for me is what do I value most? Do we choose to hold on to it or to follow Jesus?

Today's Prayer

Today's Verses in Context

Then the people brought their little children to Jesus so that Jesus could put his hands on them and pray for them. When the followers saw this, they told the people to stop bringing their children to Jesus. But Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me. Don't stop them, because the kingdom of heaven belongs to people that are like these children." After Jesus put his hands on the children, he left there. A man came to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to have life forever?" Jesus answered, "Why do you ask me about what is good? Only God is good. But if you want to have life forever, obey the commands." The man asked, "Which commands?" Jesus answered, "'You must not murder anyone, you must not do the sin of adultery, you must not steal anything, you must not tell lies about other people, you must honor (respect) your father and mother,' and 'you must love other people the same as you love yourself.' " The young man said, "I have obeyed all these things. What else do I need?" Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, then go and sell all the things you own. Give the money to the poor people. If you do this, you will have a rich treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me!" But when the man heard this, he was very sad. The man was very rich {and wanted to keep his money}. So he left Jesus. Then Jesus said to his followers, "I tell you the truth. It will be very hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. Yes, I tell you that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God." When the followers heard this, they were very surprised. They asked, "Then who can be saved?" Jesus looked at his followers and said, "This is something that people cannot do themselves. But God can do all things." Peter said to Jesus, "We left everything we had and followed you. So what will we have?" Jesus said to the followers, "I tell you the truth. When the new world is made, the Son of Man willsit on his great throne. And all of you that followed me will also sit on thrones. You will sit on twelve thrones and you will judge the twelve family groups of Israel. And every person that has left houses, brothers, sisters, father, mother, children, or farms to follow me will get much more than he left. And that person will have life forever. Many people that have the highest place in life now will have the lowest place in the future. And many people that have the lowest place now will have the highest place in the future.

— Matthew 19:13-30 (ERV)

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