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.” Luke 18:22 When you read Luke 18:22 its so very easy to believe its only about money. I have heard this preached on so many times using money as the reference point. However, we can easily insert pride, materialism, or anything else we are holding on to and find it difficult to let go of. So many of us go to church every Sunday with something hidden in our secret pouch that we pray over, we pray around, and sometimes we pray for, but for some reason we never ask God to take it away or we only ask to make ourselves feel good. You see this is a hard reality we all must face as we mature in Chris and if we hope to grow during our spiritual journey. Asking God to take something away and being willing to do the work and make that sacrifice is where the rubber meets the road. That thing that we hold on to will not be easy to let go of and there will always be temptation to turn back. That relationship we know is bad for us but we hold on to it because it seems to meet some immediate need or emotion. That vice that we have that deep down inside you know is destructive yet you just cant purge yourself of it because it just keeps calling you. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Matthew 7:14 . This is where the sifting comes into play. Many walk the aisle of salvation yet few mature to the point where they hear from God. Matthew 7:14 explains that the intimate relationship you are looking for with God is through a small gate and on an narrow road which only few find it. You see far too many of us think salvation is where it begins and ends. No sir my friends! Salvation is the beginning but its like buying a ticket to a show and standing in the lobby expecting to get your monies worth. Yes you bought the ticket and yes you now have the right to see the show but now you have to do the work and enter the theater and find a seat. You will not sit where you cannot see or where your view is being obstructed. Is that your philosophy when it comes to Christ? Are you looking for the best place to get a good view of our Father or are you seating in the obstructed seats where you can hide and not give up that thing so you can draw nearer to Christ? For me it has been a combination of things. Pride, what I think I deserve and how I think people should behave. My pride had me believing that I was doing this and that until God saw fit to clear that up with a sickness and the loss of some material things to produce humility. As for what I think I deserve God recently taught me that lesson by revealing that the reason why I thought I was lacking something I deserved is because I was not looking to my source but I was trying to create my own source. You see some of us say we trust God yet we seek other things to fill a void or bring temporary satisfaction. How many of us think we can fix others? How many of us pray for God to change others to meet our expectations. I have learned that my prayers should simply be that God has His way in the lives of those I pray for. Not for them to conform to what I need. Not for them to meet my needs or desires. My prayer is for God to have His way in the lives of individuals I come into contact with and that I am a living testimony of what I am desiring for them. Its funny because I have found that in order for me to reach my potential in Christ there are some things I need to let go of because they are to big to fit through the small gate and to wide to carry on that narrow road to the King. What about you? Can you give up that thing? Keep Pushing The Stone! Chris Pender, Sr. MHS
Posted on: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 13:57:52 +0000
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