A certain ruler asked [Jesus], “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good–except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.'” “All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus replied, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”
Luke 18:18-27
What Must I Do?
Have you ever done your best to follow God's will and then still felt like a failure? You work hard, and you show kindness to others, and people seem to think you're a good person, but you're having a hard time believing it yourself. Something is still off. So you try even harder to do right things, but it's still never enough. Finally, you begin to wonder exactly how much it's going to take to make things better: What must I do?
In today's reading, a respected leader asked that question of Jesus, and Jesus helped the man discover what was wrong. The man's problem was greed. He was doing outwardly praiseworthy things, but his greed was making it impossible for him truly to love God or people. His greed was blocking him from following Jesus. His greed was making it impossible for him to be saved, as impossible as it would be to squeeze a camel through the eye of a needle.
Is it possible that you and I have a problem with greed too? Could it be that we're more attached to our things than we think we are? Whether it is greed or hatred or lust or envy or pride or laziness or gluttony, God's Word is clear: all of us have sinned and fallen short of God's glory.
Whatever your sin may be, don't go away from Jesus sad. Nothing is impossible with God! Jesus took the sins we could never have paid for, and he paid for them in our place. Jesus took his own holiness, a level of holiness that we could never have attained, and he gave it to us as a gift. At his cross, Jesus accomplished the impossible. He saved us.
All who believe in Jesus receive the vast and glorious riches of God's kingdom: his forgiveness, his unchanging love, his promise of protection, his answers to prayer, and a home with him in heaven.
What must you do? There is nothing for you to do. Jesus has done it all. Whatever is missing in you, whatever isn’t right between you and God as you live your life from day to day, Jesus has taken care of it. Each believer in Jesus is a miracle of God's grace. Each believer is like a camel that has been squeezed through the eye of a needle.
Prayer:
Jesus forgive whatever greed is in my heart, together with all my other sins, whatever they may be. Strengthen my faith in you and your saving love. Amen.
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.
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