And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.  But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.  Matthew 19:29-30 NIV

This scripture passage comes at the end of the story of a rich young man who asked Jesus what he must do to get eternal life.  Jesus told him that he must follow the ten commandments.  He said he was doing this.  Jesus then told him that he must sell all his possessions, give to the poor, and follow Jesus.  This man walked away very sad because he had great wealth and was unwilling to part with his possessions.

Peter then tells Jesus that his disciples have left everything to follow Him and asks what is in store for them.  Jesus answered him by telling him that they would sit on 12 thrones and judge the 12 tribes of Israel and this leads us into today’s scripture passage.

This reward of receiving a hundred times more than we give up and eternal life sounds pretty good, but the problem most of us have is that we are not willing to give up anything.  For many years, I couldn’t give up things that hindered me from following Jesus.  I would hang on to relationships that I knew were not good for me.  I would hang on to habits that I knew detested God.  I would cling to them and make excuses.  But there was a big problem with this.  I was hanging on to these things and becoming more and more miserable.  I had began going to church even more, I had began trying to be involved in Bible studies.  I had began to read my Bible and pray daily.  But still I was miserable.  I too went to God and asked Him what I must do.  He very clearly pointed out things in my life that I had to give up.  I asked Him to help me with this and He did immediately!  By the end of that day, he had eliminated the problems that I had been refusing to let go of for years.  He completely destroyed several things in my life, which initially was devastating, but hold on, it gets way better!

By the next day, the restoration began.  God quickly showed me that things were going to be far better for me and not worse.  He showed me that following Him would be better than following the world.

Now don’t get me wrong, I have had plenty of bumps in the road along the way, but that’s okay.  I know that God is working all this out for my good.  I know this because I love Him with all my heart and  I am doing my best to serve Him as I feel that He has called me to do.

The devil doesn’t want us to have anything but pain and suffering, but Jesus wants us to have eternal life.  Remember that the devil makes sin look so appealing, but the reward is heartache and pain.  Following God often looks impossible, but in Matthew 19:26, Jesus told his disciples, “with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

This may sound harsh, but I have come to realize that no human being or earthly possession is worth me ruining my relationship with Christ.  It is not worth me forfeiting my eternal life.  Anyone that truly loves you would never ask you to do that anyway, right?

Think of it this way, if I had a penny and someone told me that if I would throw away that penny they would give me a million dollars, I would be a fool to refuse that deal, right?  Well that’s what following Christ is like.  The reward offered is so much greater than anything we have here on earth.  So why wouldn’t you want to do that?

We have a choice to make.  We can enter into a close relationship with Christ, even if it means that we have to give some things up.  Or we can cling tight to the things that hinder our relationship with Christ knowing that nothing good can come of it in the end.  Unfortunately, we must choose every second of every day to follow Christ.  There will always be something or someone trying to stand in our way.  The devil does a good job of positioning obstacles for us.

My prayer for you today is that if you have not made that decision,  that you will boldly decide to follow Christ and that you will have the strength to follow through.  Remember that Phillipians 4:13 tells us that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.  This job is too big for us to rely on our own strength, pray continually for God’s help.

Have a great day!