“In the same way a Christian is not a man who never goes wrong, but a man is enabled to repent and pick himself up and begin over again after each stumble--because the Christ-life is inside him, repairing him all the time, enabling him to repeat (in some degree) the kind of voluntary death which Christ Himself carried out." - Mere Christianity”
EXODUS 16-18
13The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. 14When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?”
15Moses answered him, “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will. 16Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and instructions.”
17Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. 18You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. 19Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you.(18:13-19)MATTHEW 19:16-30
16Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
17“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”
18“Which ones?” he inquired.
Jesus replied, “ ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony,19honor your father and mother,’c and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’d ”
20“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
21Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
25When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”
26Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
27Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”
28Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wifee or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.30But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.
JOURNAL
I love this interaction Moses has with his Father-in-law. It shows how God uses others in our lives. It also shows the importance of humility and being willing to give up control. This I think is behind Jesus' command to the young man. His wealth is a hindrance to him fully trusting God. Wealth has taken the place of God.
I think one of the mistakes here and one I've often struggled with is thinking that the problem needs to be eliminated...in other words, give up the money and then it will be easier to choose God. Yet I believe there is danger in finding simple answers, I think Jesus was making a point rather than giving an absolute command. The point being that we will always have struggles and often the pursuit of wealth can be just as much of a problem as actually having wealth. The issue is not money...it's the heart. To go further, it's anything that robs us of our attitude, effort and focus...other than God and truth.
For me that opens up the box to all kinds of "good things" that can tempt my heart away from being my best. The test for me is to honestly assess whether my attitude, effort or focus is altered and whether or not God is behind it. Reality is that those are the 3 things I can control. Those are the 3 things God always allows me to change...regardless of my circumstance. It is also in the evaluation of those 3 things that I face my own sin and my own shortcomings.
Thank you Father for another day, another chance to have a great attitude, to give my best effort and to focus on what's ultimately important.
I love this interaction Moses has with his Father-in-law. It shows how God uses others in our lives. It also shows the importance of humility and being willing to give up control. This I think is behind Jesus' command to the young man. His wealth is a hindrance to him fully trusting God. Wealth has taken the place of God.
I think one of the mistakes here and one I've often struggled with is thinking that the problem needs to be eliminated...in other words, give up the money and then it will be easier to choose God. Yet I believe there is danger in finding simple answers, I think Jesus was making a point rather than giving an absolute command. The point being that we will always have struggles and often the pursuit of wealth can be just as much of a problem as actually having wealth. The issue is not money...it's the heart. To go further, it's anything that robs us of our attitude, effort and focus...other than God and truth.
For me that opens up the box to all kinds of "good things" that can tempt my heart away from being my best. The test for me is to honestly assess whether my attitude, effort or focus is altered and whether or not God is behind it. Reality is that those are the 3 things I can control. Those are the 3 things God always allows me to change...regardless of my circumstance. It is also in the evaluation of those 3 things that I face my own sin and my own shortcomings.
For me that opens up the box to all kinds of "good things" that can tempt my heart away from being my best. The test for me is to honestly assess whether my attitude, effort or focus is altered and whether or not God is behind it. Reality is that those are the 3 things I can control. Those are the 3 things God always allows me to change...regardless of my circumstance. It is also in the evaluation of those 3 things that I face my own sin and my own shortcomings.
Thank you Father for another day, another chance to have a great attitude, to give my best effort and to focus on what's ultimately important.
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