Jesus does not require our adherence to His Word to penalize us, but because He loves us and wants to protect us. God knows about the unique idols in each of our lives, and treats us all individually. He encourages us to surrender to Him what means the most to us in our life. Maybe it is our high-powered job, a sporty car, a padded bank account, earthly security or even our possessions.
God loves us enough to free us from our bondage to these
worldly idols. For instance, Jesus looked at the rich, young ruler and
"loved him" (Mark 10:21). He revealed to this man the one
thing in His life, which prevented him from entering His Kingdom. The only way
to free himself from this curse was to sell everything and give the money to
the poor; then to follow Christ for the rest of his life.
Sadly, the young man was overly attached to his worldly
possessions and could not give them up. This was more of a commitment than this
young man was willing to give. He chose not to obey Christ nor to live in
service to our King, but to continue living with his worldly pleasures and
riches.
God takes the place in our life of whatever we give up for
Him. He blesses us in more ways than we can imagine, and He supplies all of our
needs according to His glorious riches (Philippians 4:19). God is
not concerned about what we own, but about what owns us. He yearns for a people
who are in love with no one and nothing more than we are in love with Him (James
4:5).
Prayer:
Father God, we no longer belong to our self, but we belong
to You as Your purchased possession, Your holy temple acquired by the blood of
the Lamb (1 Corinthians 6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16). We
gradually learn that You are greater and more precious to us than anyone or
anything on this earth. We look forward to spending eternity with You (1 John
2:25). We yearn for You like a deer longs for the water brook.
Our soul thirsts for You; You are our living God (Psalm 42:1-2).
Thought for the Day:
The moment we take our eyes off Jesus and allow
something or someone on this earth to be more precious to us than Him, we come
under bondage to that issue, item or person.
