TWENTY-FIVE DAYS TO EASTER
Reading for today:
Matthew 19:16-30
Mark 10:17-31
Luke 18:18-30
I looked up each passage in my Bible and read it - and find I need easier access for comparison, rather than flipping back and forth through my Bible, so this is a good time to introduce you to Bible Gateway. It is an amazing tool. I have it saved as one of my favorites - but it's easy to access - all you have to do is type Bible Gateway in your browser. Click on 'Passage Lookup' then just enter the info, choose which version or versions you want, click search - and you have it all in front of you. It's a very user-friendly site. When I am studying a specific passage of scripture, I often look the passage up in multiple versions: NIV, KJV or NKJV, ESV, The Message - - sometimes others as well....
For today, since I am typing in multiple passages, I used the NIV to begin with, then went back to the top and changed the version to ESV to review another translation. (Just a plug: I am an NIV fan, but the ESV is excellent, also. Bible Gateway is a great way to compare translations and get a broader picture. The truth is, when translating form old texts, often it is not just words that are hard to translate, but concepts, so reading more versions helps gain understanding - and the Holy Spirit is amazing at helping us grasp what we are to learn for the day when we begin by asking for God to open our eyes to see and our ears to hear what He wants for us on a given day. I have heard other people say this - and I can tell you from my own experience, that I can read a passage, and it seems I have never seen it before. Reading and studying the Bible is not a 'just reading' but an ingesting...and no matter where we read, God can speak to us and make it fresh...every time.)
Yesterday we saw Jesus across the Jordan blessing children. Today we watch as he interacts with a man who wants to know what he has to 'do' to have eternal life.
As a Christian I know that there is nothing I can do to earn eternal life. I know that salvation is a gift. I accepted that gift as a child (1954); walked away from it for a couple of years in my early 20's - and was restored to faith - a fully committed faith - in the fall of 1970. It's not about what I did or do, but about what He did. We are in a walk toward the cross where He 'will' do that. In our unfolding story, it is yet to come.
I know that once we accept Jesus as our Savior, we have to be intentional about allowing Him to be Lord. We release more and more of our self to more and more of His guidance. We yearn to know Him more, to be obedient to His will and out of our love (which comes in response to His) we are called to a life of service - service to God through service to others.
It is worth paying attention to the fact that this man, who 'had it all' placed his possessions in the place of 'god' and we can easily do the same. If our security is in the 401K, the portfolio, the success of accomplishments and position - - if our security is in anything but God, we have placed that thing in His position. Wealth in and of itself is not sinful. God blesses many to be a blessing - and that's the point - they are only stewards through whom His blessings can flow. Everything we have is His, is a gift from His hand, and is to be at His disposal at his bidding. The Lord loves a cheerful giver. This story challenges me and prompts me to be careful to pay attention to what God is asking of me.
The reality is that if everyone followed the letter of this message we'd then be the poor....so it isn't a lesson for precise observance for everyone, but it is a lesson to observe. Some will be called to give everything - tangibly; and others are called to support them in ministry as partners. We are all called to answer His call - whatever that means for each of us.
I find it very interesting that when Jesus told the man to follow the commandments, and the man asked which ones, that Jesus only recited the six of the original ten that dealt with relationships to man. He skipped the 'God should be first in your life, no idols, not taking God's name in vain, and keeping the Sabbath' commandments.
This was an impressive man - even to be able to say he had kept the 6 commandments - but the problem was, he wanted to gain salvation by what he did instead of what Jesus would do. Jesus was on his way to the cross. He, LORD and King gave up everything for us....whoops, jumping ahead of the story again.
The reality is, it is absolutely impossible to keep every one of the commandments perfectly. If this young man truly believed he had, he was deluding himself - and if not he was lying. And - beyond those basic commandments there were all kinds of sacrificial laws that had to be kept. The law is our teacher. It teaches us we can't possibly do everything perfectly enough to deserve eternal life. This man came a lot closer, apparently - at least in his own eyes, than I ever could....but that sheds the light on the biggest problem of all: The greatest sin of all is a self sufficiency that says, "I don't need God."
The problem is: no matter how wealthy or how poor, we walk through death to get to eternity, and we take nothing with us from this side - except our faith. Faith in Him ushers us into eternal life. Faith in Self is one of Satan's most insidious lies, and it leads us to the same place as all other lies lead us. Every day we have a choice. Every day our life reflects what or whom we live for. What we do speaks louder than what we say - and the young man exposes me. I have to look inside, be laid bare, re-examine, realign my priorities for today to His bidding. Lord, have mercy! Thank you that through you all things are possible.
In my 38-year-journey of faith-walk in the Presbyterian Church, I grew to love the phrase "saved and being saved." It is so true. Jesus saves us when we come to Him and ask - but every day of our life we are in process in our relationship to Him - and being saved is a perpetual motion.
Humor for the day:
Bubba applied for an engineering position at a Lake Charles refinery. That same day a Yankee applied for the same job, and since both had exactly the same qualifications, the Manager asked them both to take a test.
The manager came back to the men, explained that they had both gotten 9 out of the 10 questions right, and thanked Bubba for his interest - but told him they had decided to give the Yankee the job.
Bubba asked, "And why are you giving him the job? We both got 9 questions right - and this being Louisiana, and me being the Southern boy, I should get the job!"
The manager responded, "We have made our decision not on the correct answers, but rather on the one question you both missed."
Bubba then asked, "And how would one incorrect answer be better than the other?"
The manager replied, "Bubba, it's like this: on question #4, the Yankee wrote "I don't know." And you wrote, "Neither do I."
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