Candid Confession

Someone recently said to me (and this is probably a paraphrase), “ After knowing God’s grace and love, it’s impossible to be content without it.”  Truer words are rarely spoken.  When you are cocooned in the peace of God, willfully stepping out of that peace leaves you bereft.  You become disillusioned, depressed, and burdened with the cares of this world.  Well, at least that’s how I felt.  Recently I’ve been getting back into my bible and studying what it means to be a Christian and spiritually mature.  What I’ve found, so far, is that I am imperfect.  I could go on a tirade of my faults and short comings, but it would take too long, instead I want to share an “ah-ha” moment I’ve had this week. 

In Mark 10: 17-27 we meet the “rich young ruler”.  He comes to Jesus and asks how can he “inherit eternal life”.  Jesus’ reply is basically, you know the law, follow it.  But this was not enough.  The young man had kept the law his entire life and still felt something was missing and asked continued to probe.  Jesus looks at him and tells him to “go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”  After that the young man because sad and leaves disheartened. 

That’s how I felt this week.  An opportunity arose wherein I felt I was asked to make a huge sacrifice in obedience to God and it left me hurt.  I felt like that rich young man who talks a good game and looks to be following the will of God, but in reality, my heart is not in it.  I did a lot of soul searching and praying, and this passage came to mind.  God was reminding me that I need to trust and be completely depended on Him to provide.  In Mathew 6: 25-28, Jesus tells us not to worry about things because God will provide.  We just need to be obedient when prompted. 

Anyway, my soul searching lead this one, albeit obvious, conclusion:  Obedience sometimes requires sacrifice.  We….or me rather…tend to be territorial with our money, material things, and time.  But these things are temporary.  If I am a follower of Christ, I need to be willing to let these things go so that in my obedience, God is glorified.   I’m not saying accumulate good karma points by being a giving person; but, if you love God, you can’t help but be obedient to His will.