"Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. then come, follow me."- Mark 10:21 (NIV)
Many may interperet this verse as literally need to sell everything. And perhaps this is the truth for some in the midst of an awakening or epifany. However for me it is continually humbling in a way that I sometimes feel like I get tired of being humbled in. Which clearly means I need further humility in the subject of possesions and money.
Let me flash back to when I left California and began my trek with my personal belongings in a rented Toyota FJ. my life packed into a car yet again, driving toward the unknown. A thought that crossed through my mind was this, "What if I got robbed and kicked out of my rented car and this person drove away with the car and everything in it?" I thought to myself that if I were ballsy enough I would beg this person to atleast let me keep my road bike. That they could have everything, but please just let me keep this bike.
Why?
1. At least I wouldn't be stranded...
2. It's my road bike! I have ridden across the country on it twice and down the coast of California! There is so much sentiment to it and it is literally the most valuable thing I own and possess because of the memories and my love for cycling!
Both of these reasons I now look back on and am continually reminded and humbled that it literally doesn't matter. The only thing that does is Jesus. If you have Jesus, you know that Jesus has you and litterally no posession on this earth could ever weight enough to move the scale in it's favor and have as much worth.
My co-worker, Tim, told me the other day that he accidentally lost his brand new Feathered Friends sleeping back he had just purchased at the beginning of the summer because he was unloading his car and it must have rolled underneath his car. The bag dissapeared... He felt foolish for loosing this rather costly, lovely possession BUT he followed the greivence by saying "It's OK. It's just a thing."
Right you are Tim and if I haven't thanked you for that reminder already, thank you!
I see the verse above as a few reminders. That we should not look to our posessions for value and acceptance but we should look to the one who saved us from ourselves and still does daily. It is OK to have earthly things but do not hold to them tightly as if they were the end all be all. The end all be all is Christ Jesus. If something is lost or if you feel pushed to give it away, do so.
"What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ." -Philippians 3:8 (ESV)
Love. Is. The. Greatest.
It is good to love and steward the things God has blessed us with in our lives from possessions to people. But it is far more important to love people well as exemplified by Jesus Himself. And to let go of the things that don't matter.
-Keep Adventuring.
No comments:
Post a Comment