Matthew 19:16-26
A man came to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to have eternal life?" Jesus said to him, "Why do you ask me about what is good? Only God is good. If you want to have eternal life, you must obey his commandments." "Which ones?" the man asked.
Jesus answered, "Do not murder. Be faithful in marriage. Do not steal. Do not tell lies about others. Respect your father and mother. And love others as much as you love yourself." The young man said, "I have obeyed all of these. What else must I do?"
Jesus replied, "If you want to be perfect, go sell everything you own! Give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven. Then come and be my follower." When the young man heard this, he was sad, because he was very rich.
Jesus said to his disciples, "It's terribly hard for rich people to get into the kingdom of heaven! In fact, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to get into God's kingdom." When the disciples heard this, they were greatly surprised and asked, "How can anyone ever be saved?" Jesus looked straight at them and said, "There are some things that people cannot do, but God can do anything."
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
On a recent episode of The Biggest Loser, the contestants had to decide which member of a married couple to send home. The couple pleaded with the contestants to send the wife home and keep the husband on the ranch. Their rationale was that the wife knew what she needed to do to continue losing weight at home, while the husband had not come to that place in his mind and heart yet. He told the contestants that he knew if he went home now, he would not do the work he needed to lose weight and live longer to rear his young son.
One of the hardest things for us humans to grasp is complete surrender to God. We are crippled by fear (imposed by Satan, of course!), and we hesitate. Quite often, we really like our sins… they feel good to us, and we are comfortable with them. The life in Christ seems like a huge sacrifice. The truth is that there is absolutely no “sacrifice” we can ever make to come close to what Jesus has already done for each of us. When we realize this, even talking about our own “sacrifices” seems a little ridiculous, doesn’t it?!
So the question becomes… how can we ever be saved and surrender completely to God? The answer is clear…we cannot do anything, but God can do everything! Maybe the guy on The Biggest Loser needs the support of his fellow contestants and the trainers to continue on his journey. Maybe he needs to ask God for more strength and courage. I’m not judging… I’m just sayin’! But the bottom line is, we are no different in our own situations. We all pull up short every day and say, “Whoa! That’s more than I can handle!” We often get almost all the way to the Finish Line, so to speak, and then turn and step to the curb and call it quits.
It’s time to cross on over the line. It’s time we realized the power of God to do what we cannot. It’s time we understood that nothing we have or enjoy could possibly compare to what God is waiting to give us. All we have to do is to surrender to Him… to be willing to completely put Him first above everything and everyone else… to fully serve as His disciple. The results can be amazing… are you willing to see them firsthand?
©2011 Debbie Robus
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