Luke 18: 18-29
A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’ “All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. 24 Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! 25 Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.” Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus replied, “What is impossible with human beings is possible with God.”28 Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!” “Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.”
Who then can be saved?
In this story, Jesus happens to be speaking with a man who has come and he wants to know what he has to do in order to be saved. As Jesus explains that he is to follow the teaching of God, the man says, I have done all that. The problem is, he had followed the law but his heart was not convinced.
Jesus went on to teach him and he tells him that he should sell all that he has and give it to the poor. As the story goes, the man walked away because he had a lot of wealth.
Listen, Jesus is not saying that a person has to get rid of all our earthly possessions and he definitely is not saying that a person should give up family. Jesus is saying that God is to truly be number 1 in our lives.
You see the problem is that so many people have one foot in the kingdom and one foot in the world. They want to come to church in Sunday and present an offering to the Lord and walk away and live like God doesn’t matter the rest of the week. There is a lot of this in the world today. So many people have never understood this scripture.
With God all things are possible and I am proof that God can get a persons heart as well as his finances and all his passions. I know others also who have given their lives for Christ. This doesn’t mean that I stay in church 7 days a week, no just the opposite. I stay engaged with the world the rest of the week, I enjoy my family, I love to run and read. I have lots of things that I love to do but it all includes God.
Ronnie
Prayer
Lord, there are those we just can’t see how they could ever be saved. So many are cold to the gospel and have no desire to hear about you, much less serve you. But God, I know that you can do all things. My prayer today is that you will break through to those in the lives of us reading this who have closed you out and reveal yourself to them. We ask this in the matchless name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
