Pay Attention

Over the past 2  weeks the passage about the rich young ruler has come up 3 times. When scripture reappears in my life within a short period of time it makes me stop and consider hard what exactly it is that God is trying to work through in my life. Here are some of the things that I learned so grab your Bible and see what you think!....
I started a new devotional about American excess. In the first chapter of this devotional the author talks about Matthew 19:16-22. Here is what stands out to me:
vs 16 The rich young ruler already knows that he is missing something in his life. Jesus doesn't walk up to him and tell him about how terrible he is and how he is doing everything wrong in life. Rather this young man has an intuition that something is missing in his walk with God and he approaches Jesus to ask about it.
vs 17 I really like how my pastor this past Sunday explained this verse. My pastor pointed out that this verse is Jesus saying that He is God and that He is part of the trinity because He is the "One" with the answers and He "is the only One who is good." This sets up the importance of the rest of this conversation....because He is God!
vs 20 Once again, the rich young ruler knows that even if he obeyed all the scriptural laws there is something still missing. He knows that something is missing from his life that is essential in order for him to get eternal life. This guy is smart.
vs 21 Jesus hits this guy where it hurts....his wallet. This young ruler was so close to his own obsessions, possessions, and sin that he couldn't see that his wealth was keeping him from God, but Jesus knew exactly what hindered this man's commitment to God. The reason that I believe that this passage is less about wealth and more about following God is because Jesus then says to come and follow Me. Jesus's instruction is 2-fold:

sell all of his possessions and give it to the poor

and Follow Me

There was something between him and Jesus. Wealth. Do I think wealth is what holds back all of us from following Jesus? No. Do I think it holds back most Americans? Yes. We are so close to our obsessions, our wealth, and our sin that we keep asking God, "what do I need to do, or not do, to make my walk better with You." But often its those things that we cling so tight to that we can't even see they are keeping us from God. These things can even be good: family, money, prosperity, comfort. I wholehearted believe that we could replace the "rich young ruler" with the "family man" or "workaholic" or "fasionista" or "college scholar" or "athlete" or "obsessive soccer mom." What is preventing us from following God?

BUT THEN, I'm right there with ya...All of the excuses come pouring into my brain. So then I am able to settle back in on my sofa and sleep peacefully tonight because I'm really not that bad.  These are good and essential parts of life. But are they obsessions? Do they prevent me from "giving to the poor" (vs 21)? That seems like a pretty good gauge that even Jesus uses.

We may not "walk away sad" like the rich young ruler. But what is scarier to me is that maybe we actually walk away from Jesus's response with a blind sense of confidence that we are following Jesus, when in reality we are walking away from Jesus and back to our wealth and our castles (or our jobs, lifestyle, college, sports, whatever it is) with our heads held high!

You may be thinking, Elizabeth you're being a bit harsh don't you think? No. I don't think so. And the reason why is because of the next verse:

vs 23 "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

I like the disciples next question after Jesus uses this hyperbole....

And read my next post to hear how much I LOVE Jesus's response.

Looking into their Eyes

"Sometime in your life, hope that you might see one starved man and the look on his face when the bread finally arrives. Hope that you might have baked it or brought or even kneaded it yourself. For that look on his face, for your meeting his eyes across a piece of bread, you might be willing to lose a lot, or suffer a lot, or die a little, even. -Daniel Berrigan

This quote sums up why I encourage people to, especially youth, to go into another culture and see what the face of the needy looks like.
I am not against short term missions because I know how God can use them to change our perspectives. He can use them to make us more generous with our prayers, with our time, and with our money. (In reference to my 1st post, I do think we need to choose wisely what short term missions trips we go and how frequently we go.)

I recently became a volunteer for Gospel for Asia because I basically want to reach as many people in the suffering continent of Asia with the Gospel and to obey the Bible. Gospel for Asia is unlike any other organization that I have come across and God has opened my heart to a great passion for this organization because of what they are doing in Asia through the mighty power of God. IT is an incredibly needy part of the world: physically, socially, and spiritually. Truly beyond anything that I can begin to comprehend. I am reading "No Longer A Slumdog" by K.P. Yohannan and God is using it to pry open by selfish heart to this dark culture. 

I believe that the apathy of the church to care for the desolate, poor, orphans, and widows comes from not seeing "one starved man and the look on his face when the bread finally arrives." When you see the hungry, orphaned, widowed, sick, and hopeless it changes you. It has changed me and it continues to break me. The more I learn about these needs I am drawn in more and more.