Saturday Reading: Matthew 19:16-22
Key Verse: Matthew 19:17
17 And He said to him, Why do you call Me good? There is none good but one, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.
Devotion:
Being a friend of Jesus is more than just being a good person who is willing to make sure that they do not break any of the commandments. It is very difficult to not break them to start with, but even if you were able to not break most of them, such as those listed here in this passage, there is still Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.”
When we first think about gods, we think about them as being powerful spirits or beings that are able to influence our world in some way. As we get to know the truth we then begin to realise that there is only one God and that He is all powerful and there is no need for any other gods. What we do not always remember is that definitions of gods we had in the beginning... things that are able to influence our world in some way. Man holds up too many things as gods – starting with money, possessions and the like – and allows them to not only influence his world but also rule his world! Are we not therefore guilty of holding up money and possessions as a god before our God?
Jesus knew what was in this man’s heart and he knew that he would not yet be willing to give everything up – whether he did later or not, I don’t know. Christ knows us from the inside out. He knows when we are holding up earthly treasures instead of holding Him up. He wants us to be willing to hold Him up before any of our earthly pleasures. If we are not willing to do that for Him, then we are not yet ready to hold Him up as our one true God! You may then think that you will never be ready to do that... Well, we all have to start somewhere. We all start out by hearing the word of God. The more we hear (or read) the more we will understand and the more we will grow. The more we grow, the stronger we become and the more likely we will be to be able to hold Him up first. Read, hear and grown in Christ...
Points to Ponder:
Do you have things you do not want to give up?
Are you really going to choose them before God?
