“And someone came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do so that I may obtain eternal life?” And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” Then he said to Him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not commit murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not give false testimony; Honor your father and mother; and You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to Him, “All these I have kept; what am I still lacking?” Jesus said to him, “If you want to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property.” (Matthew 19:16-22 NASB)
Last week in our Victory Classes, the name for Bible Study classes at our church, we continued our study in The Book of Hebrews. We kept digging in the text, and we saw the theme being consistently being carried out by the writer, writing under the inspiration of God, about the superiority of Christ. His readers at the time of writing the book were those who were drifting away from Christ and turning to the worshipping of angels, returning back to Judaism, and even pagan gods. However, note that all Scripture is profitable, and therefore the writer’s words speak to all who are turning or who are tempted to turn away from Christ and turn to old ways and odd ways, old impulses and at odds with the truth influences; influences that put people at peril. One of the conclusions we arrived at in all three of our weekly study sessions, based on the words in Hebrews, is that believers gain far more, in Christ, our Great High Priest, than what they give up. Now, to the verses in Matthew, the very ones you just read above.
The rich, young ruler in the text above was not willing to give up his possessions to follow Christ. His difficulty was based on not realizing that the premise is true: You gain far more than you give up, in Christ.
As promised in yesterday’s meditation, I said I would give you something for your “Go Ye Therefore” toolbox, The last sentence in the paragraph immediately above is that “something” in general. But let’s add some specificity to support the generality of the statement. Are you ready?
What we gain in Christ is far more than what one will lose. I’ll speak for all of us believers. We may have lost some friends when we came to Christ, but we gained the greatest friend that one could ever have. That’s “far more!” We may have lost some privileges with some people, but we gained the privilege of going to God in prayer. “What a privilege it is to carry everything to God in prayer!” That’s far more! We might have lost contact with people who might tell us something good, but we gained Christ who teaches us and shows us what is good! That’s far more!’ We might have lost favor with the crowd, but so what! We gained favor with the Lord! That’s far more! I know you are saying, ‘Is He writing or preaching?” Well, the answer is, “A little of both!” Let me continue.
We may have lost some connections, but we have a better connection, a kinship with Christ and a relationship with other believers who encourage us! That’s far more! We may have lost the good times when we were living in the city, on every street corner were the parties and partaking was taking place, but we gained far more! We gained assurance that we will spend an eternity in that city where the streets are paved with gold, in that city where there is no more darkness, in that city where there is no more sickness, sin, or a need to deal with the seducer! That’s far more! We may have to give up self-satisfaction, but let me tell you this, there is a greater satisfaction when you gain Christ; When you pick up your cross, deny yourself, and follow Him! That’s far more! Oh, the Lord will bless you beyond satisfaction! Remember: In Christ, we gain much more than we lost!
Now that you have it in your toolbox, figure out how you are going to use it for the benefit of the kingdom! What good is a tool if it remains stored in your toolbox? Use it my friend! Have a tell somebody Tuesday! Be blessed!
“I am less than the least of all God’s people; yet God gave me this privilege of taking to the Gentiles the Good News about the infinite riches of Christ.” (Ephesians 3:8 Good News Translation)
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King