Give It to Him

And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” 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, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. (Matthew 19:16-22 ESV).

It was many centuries ago in a remote village in India. Word began to spread that something was about to happen that no one had seen in their lifetime, the prince was coming to visit their forgotten little village. Everyone was excited but no one was more excited than the village beggar was. Every day he eked out another day by sitting by the road with his little cup, hoping to get enough money to buy the rice to live one more day. He actually had two cups one for collecting money and one for his few grains of rice. But now the prince was coming, the wealthy prince! When the prince finally arrived, the beggar mustered his most impassioned appeal, “Alms! Alms for the poor!” And the prince stopped. The beggar's heart was pounding furiously. “Give me your cup of rice.” was all that the prince said. The beggar slumped down in disbelief. Here was the wealthiest man in the land, asking for his lousy little cup of rice. The beggar was about to refuse, but instead he reached in and he put three grains of rice in the prince's hand. The prince turned to his servant and said, “Bring me the bag of gold.” The beggar could hardly contain himself as he eagerly stretched out his empty collection cup. The prince reached into his bag and placed three grains of gold in the beggar's cup. And then he disappeared, never to return but leaving the beggar to wonder for the rest of his life . . . what would have happened if he had given him his whole cup of rice?

Jesus, the Prince of Heaven, may be passing your way today with so much to give you. The forgiveness of every sin you've ever committed . . . a new beginning . . . the peace that has eluded you your whole lifetime . . . eternity with Him in heaven. He wants to make you spiritually rich. In fact, it was very expensive for Him to be able to offer you the heaven you don't deserve instead of the death penalty your sin does deserve. In our reading for today, the young rich man was willing to do something, but not everything for Christ. The central issue is our willingness to give everything to Christ in exchange for Him. Just like the beggar and his rice, he wanted to hold on to some things. I wonder if you are trying to hold on to some of the things of your life? Don't make the eternal mistake of hanging onto your little cup of rice - and missing Jesus' bag of gold. You will not be disappointed by His level of giving! Give it all to Him!