Today's Scripture
How Do We Love Ourselves? Matthew 19:16-19
16 Then someone came to him and said, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” 17 And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” 18 He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; 19 Honor your father and mother; also, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
20 The young man said to him, “I have kept all these;[b] what do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money[c] to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” 25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astounded and said, “Then who can be saved?” 26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.
RJ's Devotion
What Does the Passage Say?
V. 16-17 The rich young man comes to Jesus, asks a question ‘how to obtain eternal life.’
V. 18-19 Jesus answers, ‘if you can to enter into life keep the commandments.’
V. 20-22 He says, he does, but asks what he was lacking, Jesus says, ‘sell your possessions,…, and follow me.’ The young man turns away.
V. 23-26 Jesus then says, ‘how hard for a rich person to enter into the Kingdom.’
What Does the passage Mean to Me/US?
It is interesting to see how the conversation goes from ‘entering eternal life’ to ‘ enter into life’ to ‘enter into the kingdom of heaven.’
Jesus was saying that the process as important, as the end goal. The young man had the end goal, ‘eternal life,’ in mind, while Jesus stressed about the journey to the end goal. Jesus also was pointing out that keeping the ‘rule’ cannot be complete without offering our hearts.
We aren’t called to be God’s stewards because it is a commandment.
We respond to that call because we are on this journey of following Jesus with our heart. Jesus clearly says, “No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth” (Matthew 6:24). Afterall, Jesus wants our heart, not our money.
So many times, however, we ears and hearts are clouded by the word, ‘sell our your possessions,’ while Jesus was asking us to ‘follow him with our heart.’
When we are offering our heart to our Lord, selling will not be a big deal.
Prayer
Lord, we offer our heart, life, and everything to you. As we respond to this call to follow you, help us to experience your Kingdom on Earth, as it is in Heaven. In Christ Name, we pray, AMEN.
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