Take a few deep breaths to center your heart and your mind as you prepare to meet with God.

Meditation on God

As God gives His chosen people the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20, He starts with this: “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. You must not have any other god but me.” (Exodus 20:2-3) Even though God was the one doing the heavy lifting when He set His people free from their 400 year enslavement in Egypt, they were drawn at an alarming speed to worship and thank inanimate objects for taking care of them. Take a moment and ask yourself this question: How do you think God feels when we put things in our lives in places that belong to Him, like the focus of our attention, the top of our priority list, or the center of our heart’s affections?

Teaching

As Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to him, knelt down, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked. “Only God is truly good. But to answer your question, you know the commandments: ‘You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. You must not cheat anyone. Honor your father and mother.’” “Teacher,” the man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.” Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” At this the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God!” This amazed them. But Jesus said again, “Dear children, it is very hard to enter the Kingdom of God. In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!” The disciples were astounded. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked. Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.” Then Peter began to speak up. “We’ve given up everything to follow you,” he said. “Yes,” Jesus replied, “and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property—along with persecution. And in the world to come that person will have eternal life. (Mark 10:17-30)

Jesus has passed the halfway point in His journey, and now every step he takes is toward Jerusalem, toward the final mission that God has given him in His earthly life. As He walks toward the city, He talks to a man who respects Him and develops a deep, genuine love and care for him, but when asked to give everything up for Jesus, the man walks away sad, knowing that he does not want to give up everything he has.

At this point in the devotional, it would be easy to explain away what Jesus tells the righteous man in this story and keep God away from our wallets. It would be really easy. Sadly, the easy way out is not where God is calling us.

One of my least favorite worship songs in all of human history is a little song called Mansion Over The Hilltop. It’s good to sing songs about heaven and I know that God can work good out of anything, but what bugged me is how it always mentions heavenly riches just like earthly ones and never mentions God. The verses end with statements like these: “I want a gold one that's silver-lined,” “I know He'll give me a mansion my own,” and “I want a mansion, a harp, and a crown.” While there are certainly worship songs being written in my day that are misguided or empty, this song seemed to be written by an old prospector in the 1848 California Gold Rush.

We’re not off the hook because we’re not interested in mansions, harps, or crowns. Many of us pursue earning higher wages, having nicer vehicles, having more successful hobbies for us or our kids, wearing nicer clothes, and having great Instagrammable experiences like they’re going to make us happy and content. Do you realize that you’re rich? The average income in the U.S. is $25,332. If you earn that income, you are richer than 86.1% of the population of planet Earth. There may be people richer than you, but only a single person on the planet at a time cannot rightly say that same statement. The point of this is not to claim that having money is bad, but Jesus makes it clear that (1) money cannot save us or bring us eternal life, (2) money or the lack thereof will not guarantee safety in this life, and (3) there are things worth more than money.

What is worth more than money? What is worth more than mansions, harps, and crowns? Jesus. After Paul lays out everything of value in his life in Philippians 3, he says this: “I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ.” While the rich man in the story had a good heart, his money and possessions were so deeply tied to his heart that he couldn’t let them go, and that may have cost him everything.

Examination

Take a moment and ask yourself this question: what in your life other than God makes you feel joyful, proud, safe, or secure?

How hard would it be to give that up to follow Jesus more sacrificially and completely? The harder it is, the more work Jesus might need to do in your heart.

Memory Verse

As you go throughout your day today, be on the lookout for the ways that you have power in this life–money, status, position, family relationships–and remind yourself with these words from Mark 10 that even with all the power in the world, God is your only hope.

“Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.” (Mark 10:27)