Deeper Reflection
WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT TO GIVE OUR ALL TO FOLLOW Jesus? Perhaps deep down we fear that God will not supply our needs as promised. We have so many concerns about money, family and comfort. To ask us to sacrifice these for the Gospel would invite much rationalisation as to why we cannot do it. Perhaps the many reasons we produce are our attempts to soothe our conscience. In today’s passage, the rich young man tried to justify himself as righteous in God’s sight.⁵ What else could God want from him? Jesus exposed the hypocrisy in the young man’s heart. He could not surrender the one thing that Jesus was asking for – his immense wealth. His wealth was his idol. Money was His Master!Contrast this with Peter. He walked away from his livelihood for a life without a steady income. He trusted that Jesus would lead and provide for him, and work out the details. Sometimes when we sacrifice for Jesus’ sake, it may seem that we lose out. But Jesus foretold that “many who are first will be last, and the last first” (v.31). The Lord will reward His faithful servants with a “hundredfold” in this present time and even greater blessings in the age to come. Peter learnt an important lesson that day: We cannot outgive God!What is the Lord asking you to surrender today so that you can follow Him fully? Your resources? Your energy? Your time? Your pleasures? Whatever it is, entrust them to the Lord, because He will use them to greatly bless many people, as well as yourself.

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⁵ Cf. Matthew 19:16-30; Luke 18:18-34.