“Another day, a man stopped Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” Jesus said, “Why do you question me about what’s good? God is the One who is good. If you want to enter the life of God, just do what he tells you.” The man asked, “What in particular?” Jesus said, “Don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as you do yourself.” The young man said, “I’ve done all that. What’s left?” “If you want to give it all you’ve got,” Jesus replied, “go sell your possessions; give everything to the poor. All your wealth will then be in heaven. Then come follow me.” (Matthew 19:16-21 MSG)
Here is a quick Sunday morning lesson before you go to worship service and see what sent message the Lord has for you. While at times we measure our goodness by the fact that we have stayed away from the broad way that leads to destruction and our rod of measurement focuses on the fact that we have not done anything bad, perhaps we need to take another look at whether or not we are really on the narrow path of righteousness.
I know the things we used to do; we don’t do no more. And I’m positive, confident, almost sure in the lives of many believers, the things we don’t do are in line with things forbidden in Scripture where we are admonished, “Thou shall not,” But what about the “Thou shall” statements?
Sometimes, when we do self-evaluations of our lives, we limit our assessments to what we didn’t do, and we are blind to the things we should have done or should do as God’s children. You see the narrow path of righteousness is more than not doing bad, but it includes doing good. It is more than coming to Christ, but it is living out the principles and precepts that Christ presented in His ministry on earth. It is more than avoiding the deeds of the flesh, but it is manifesting the Fruit of the Spirit in our daily walk. It is more than staying away from evil, but it is clinging, proactively to the prescriptions provided by the Lord Almighty. It is more than loving the Lord, but it also loving the brethren, showing we have passed from death to life.
That’s our lesson and I’m sure that we can all grow on our sanctification journey as a result of hearing it. Have a great worship experience, one that will reveal itself in your living after the benediction. Learn some more and then go out and exhibit the benefits of being in the assembly of the saints and hearing the specific word that God sent to you for a specific purpose. By the way, He does that every single week! Smile because He is smiling on you! Be blessed!
“The whole Biblewas given to us by inspiration from God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives; it straightens us out and helps us do what is right. It is God’s way of making us well prepared at every point, fully equipped to do good to everyone.” (Ephesians 5:19-20 CEV)
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King