One thing leads to another

Are you ready to be absolutely AMAZED? I thought you were!!!

Let's imagine that you're a lot like we are. Over time you've collected a pretty good amount of just stuff. You probably have a minimum of a few rooms full of stuff and, again if you're like us, you might have a fairly large house full.

Imagine that a fire comes along right now. Before anything can get done about it, it all burns to the ground and nothing is left. Sift through the debris with me in your mind and divide it into these categories:

1. Wow, that's expensive to replace, but I need it (clothes and beds fit in this category.)
2. I really enjoyed having that, but I can live without it (I'm going to guess for you that knick knacks and perhaps even electronics fall here. Some of us have libraries or other special collections that feel like we really need it, but in reality we can give it up.)
3. The things I just can't live without emotionally. Photographs, furniture with a special history, special books, files of personal letters, you know...stuff that matters.

Think of three examples (besides mine) of each category. Try to really think through it. Don't spend a lot of time on it (no more than 15 minutes total for all three categories.) Take a pencil and paper out, though, and write it down.

Now imagine that Jesus comes up to you and asks you to give all of that up in order to walk with him. Do you feel:

1. Disappointed?
2. Excited?
3. Surprised?
4. Unwilling?

You know who I'm referring to as I write this, don't you? The rich young ruler. The one that Jesus told "Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor...and come follow me."

^{Mark 10:17-30 The Message} As he went out into the street, a man came running up, greeted him with great reverence, and asked, "Good Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?"

¹⁸Jesus said, "Why are you calling me good? No one is good, only God. ¹⁹You know the commandments: Don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't lie, don't cheat, honor your father and mother."

²⁰He said, "Teacher, I have--from my youth--kept them all!"

²¹Jesus looked him hard in the eye--and loved him! He said, "There's one thing left: Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth. And come follow me."

²²The man's face clouded over. This was the last thing he expected to hear, and he walked off with a heavy heart. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and not about to let go.

²³Looking at his disciples, Jesus said, "Do you have any idea how difficult it is for people who "have it all' to enter God's kingdom?" ²⁴The disciples couldn't believe what they were hearing, but Jesus kept on: "You can't imagine how difficult. ²⁵I'd say it's easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for the rich to get into God's kingdom."

²⁶That set the disciples back on their heels. "Then who has any chance at all?" they asked.

²⁷Jesus was blunt: "No chance at all if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you let God do it."

²⁸Peter tried another angle: "We left everything and followed you."

²⁹Jesus said, "Mark my words, no one who sacrifices house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, land--whatever-because of me and the Message ³⁰will lose out. They'll get it all back, but multiplied many times in homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land--but also in troubles. And then the bonus of eternal life!

If you've ever heard a sermon on this passage, you probably get what's going on. For those that haven't, let me make some interesting points:

1. The man made spiritual claims that come across to many of us as arrogant, especially considering he was talking to God's Son.
2. The passage said that Jesus LOVED him, even after he made these bald-faced claims.
3. Jesus dealt with him honestly and went to the HEART of the issue for this man: he was VERY rich.
4. The man went away sad...and is never heard from again in the Bible. I suspect the reason Mark didn't include his name is that he was protecting his identity.

God knows how to deal with the spiritually arrogant. We honestly do not have to deal with that problem. What we must do is try to find what inside of ourselves we aren't willing to give up...and release it.

I call this "open handedness." Instead of holding on tightly, simply open your hand. Make it available to God. He might take it!! Or he might add to it. Or he might replace it with something else.

Hold onto it too tightly and it becomes idolatry. Sometimes the things we hold onto are material goods. Sometimes it is pet sin that we just simply won't admit is wrong and therefore won't give up. Sometimes it is relationships: often parents struggle with letting their children grow up and refuse to give them the freedom of determining their own course without interference.

The thing that I listed in point #3 is my wife and my family (I know...it's cheating...they're not stuff). God asked me to give them up to spend a year in Phoenix working to support them. After being single so long, being away from them was the hardest thing I've ever done. It is very hard for me to look at that year as a good year. We made a lot of financial progress, but it killed my spirit to be away from them and to deal with my awayness each time I got home. It was like God saw through to the heart of me and allowed me to be tested on the one subject that he knew would hurt the most.

I think I can identify with the rich younger ruler's sadness. We made it through that year in spite of a lot of rough travel. My relationship with Jennifer was tested as deeply as a marriage relationship can be tested and remain intact just by the apartness. I referred to my hotel room as my "apartment" because it was enforced "apartness."

The part of the passage that gives me hope, though, is not the sadness of the rich young ruler. It was the love of Jesus for him. And it was these verses at the end:

²⁹Jesus said, "Mark my words, no one who sacrifices house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, land--whatever-because of me and the Message ³⁰will lose out. They'll get it all back, but multiplied many times in homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land--but also in troubles. And then the bonus of eternal life!

Notice what also multiplies as our possessions and relations are restored or replaced: The Message calls them troubles. The King James Version (KJV), New International Version (NIV), and the New Living Translation (NLT) all call them persecutions. Let me paraphrase what Jesus is saying:

"Even if you willingly sacrifice possessions and relationships, you can count on more being restored to you...but so will your troubles. But from those troubles you will come to understand and appreciate the bonus of eternal life."

I'm not there yet. My bones still ache over the things that happened the past five years. My ears still ring at the accusations by others that I brought it onto myself...even the accusations by some very close to me. I lost my hope and my confidence during that time and am just now starting to sense that there is a stable platform under my feet. I tried, as much as possible, to worship God through it all...using Job's cry to heaven: "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away...blessed be the name of the Lord."

My warning is look out! If you get too satisfied or you hold on too tightly to the blessings you are used to, or lean on them too heavily to enable your faith, the troubles will drown you. Only by letting go of your pat answers, your assumptions about who God is, your judgement of others, your rights, and your special things will you be ready to float to the top when God allows trouble to fall on your head.

Let go when the trouble comes and acknowledge him as God anyway. Regardless of how bad the trouble was, I awe God...still.

When it comes time to choose what you hold onto, what will you choose?