“If you want to be perfect,”  Jesus said to him, “go, sell your belongings and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.  Then come, follow Me.”  Matthew 19:21 HCSB

Our scripture passage today comes from the parable of the rich young ruler.  This young man approached Jesus and asked what he must do to have eternal life.  Jesus began by telling him to obey the commandments.  The young ruler then asked which commandments and Jesus went through a checklist of the ten commandments with him.  The young ruler was pleased because he was obedient to the ten commandments but felt there was something more.  When he pressed Jesus to tell him what else he must do, Jesus told him to sell all that he had, give the money to the poor, and follow him.  So, I ask you today, could you give all you have?  Could you sell your house, your car, give away all your money?

Now I mentioned this parable last week and I pointed out something that I just learned through studying my Sunday school lesson about this rich young ruler.  There is no other time in scripture that Jesus tells someone to give all that they own away.  So why did he instruct this young man to give all that he had?

Well, let’s go back to the greatest commandment.  What does it say?  In Matthew 22:37, Jesus tells His disciples that the greatest commandment is, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”  In Matthew 6:24 Jesus says that no one can serve two masters.  He says that you will end up hating one and loving the other or being devoted to one and despising the other.  He says that we cannot be slaves of God and money.  Unfortunately, Jesus knew that this rich young ruler loved his possessions, his power and his wealth and could not give them up even for eternal life.

The brave men and women of the military and law enforcement sign on for a job in which they may have to give their lives to save others.  John 15:13 tells us that there is no greater love than this, that someone would lay down their lives for their friends.  Jesus died for friends and enemies alike.  He died for all of God’s children, even those of us who were and are miserable sinners.  He died so that we might be made clean by the blood that He shed for us.  He gave his life for us.

So today I must ask what are you willing to give for Him?  Are you willing to adjust your lifestyle in order to serve Him?  Would you forego a family vacation in order to spend time and money on a mission trip?  Would you forego some dinners out or a few stops at the gourmet coffee shop to contribute more offerings to mission work?

What if Jesus showed up at your doorstep and asked you to sell what you have and follow Him?  Could you do it, or would you have to turn away and be sad like the rich young ruler? All of our possessions or our positions of power mean nothing without God.  Sadly I see many people who are wandering around with that God-sized hole in their heart.  They know something is missing they are just not quite sure what it is.

My friend if God doesn’t have first place in your life, get rid of what does.  Remove any obstacle that prevents you from putting God first.  Remove anything that gets in your way of loving God and serving God with your whole heart, your whole mind and your whole soul.  I promise you that nothing you remove will be missed when you have the love of Christ in your heart.

Have a great day!