Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Distracted by Stuff
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. —Matthew 6:21
Matthew 19 records a conversation between Jesus and the rich young ruler, who may be the only man in the Gospels who came to Jesus and actually went away in worse condition than before.
This was a man who had been raised in a very religious home. The Bible says he had great wealth. But something was missing. He wanted eternal life. So he came to Jesus with a question: “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16).
Jesus told him to keep the commandments. And when he wanted to know which ones, Jesus started reciting them. Why? Because if this rich young ruler had been honest and would have done some reflecting, he would have recognized that he wasn’t as good as he thought he was. Jesus quoted the law, because the law is a moral mirror. The law wasn’t given to make us righteous, but to show that we are not righteous.
But the rich young ruler didn’t get that, so Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me” (verse 21).
So the story of the rich young ruler ended in sadness. Matthew tells us, “But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions” (verse 22).
Jesus was laying his finger on the primary sin in this man’s life, which was the love of earthly things. Jesus was asking this man to dethrone his wealth and enthrone the Savior. But he wasn’t willing to do so.
Like this man, we can easily get distracted by stuff today. And far too often, we think only of the here and now and very rarely of the by-and-by.
Summary sentence: The Lord asks each of us to dethrone our wealth and enthrone the Savior! What is your response?
Tags:eternity, sin
Copyright © 2011 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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