I Quit - Pt 6

And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. (Mark 10:17-22 ESV). Continuing our series in surrender we come to one of the most important passages of Jesus’ teaching. It details a rich young ruler who declared his allegiance to Jesus. He was a man who wanted to follow Christ; however, he wasn’t willing to surrender his possessions in order to do so. In the end, turning his back on Christ was easier than parting with his wealth. Possessions cause a struggle for many people. Jesus knew they would, which is why he talked so much about money and material goods. He knew that wealth and possessions easily become our biggest idols. He understood that they are things not easily surrendered. It is for this very reason that he calls us to give them up in order to follow him. In Matthew 6:24, Jesus spoke plainly about the love of money. He declared, “You cannot serve God and money.” That is not a command; it’s a simple statement of fact. Loving money makes us a slave to it. Money becomes our “master.” If that’s the case, then we cannot serve him, since no one can serve two masters. This is why the surrender of possessions is necessary. Most of us don’t have “wealth” that must be surrendered. My experience is that a possession is much harder to put into God’s hands than money. It may be one of those things that you have treasured above all else; it may have deep sentimental value; or, it may just be something that have always wanted and finally got. It’s strange how easily we become attached to our stuff. Believe me, I have stuff. In fact, Mary would tell you that most of the stuff I have accumulated through the years is really just “junk.” Getting ready to make the final move to Texas has made me recognize she may really be right about that. In one of the drawers of our dresser I have some very old clothes. One item is a sweatshirt that I wore when I was a freshman at Texas A&M. I wore it more while working on the bonfire than any other time. It has our squadron logo on the front along with “Texas Aggies” above it. It is ragged and tattered. I would never wear it today even if it did still fit. I must answer the question of how much that piece of clothing really means to me. I can never mean more than my relationship to Christ. It doesn’t, but I must ask. Most of us never ask. Have you?