Fri/Sat/Sun—November 3–5•Surrendering Everything As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”... Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” (Mark 10:17, 21) If you read on through Mark 10, you’ll find that the man who came to Jesus did not follow our Lord’s suggestion. The passage says he walked “away sad, because he had great wealth.” And Jesus told His disciples that it’s hard for rich people to enter God’s Kingdom. (See Mark 10:22–23.) It’s important to understand that Jesus wasn’t asking this man to do some great work of self-denial to justify himself and make himself righteous in God’s eyes. Jesus already loved this man, so He wasn’t requiring him to win approval by adopting a poverty lifestyle. Rather, Jesus’ words were designed to help this young man remove the obstacle that was keeping him from responding wholeheartedly to faith in God. Jesus was saying it’s better to sell everything and give it to the poor than to be caught up in priorities that are limited to the temporal world. Money will not keep you out of heaven, nor will poverty ensure your place in heaven. And frankly, money is not the only thing that can prove to be a distraction or even an idol. But because our world values wealth, it is one of the primary issues that can stand in the way of full surrender to God’s principles and priorities. In God’s economy, it’s not about the money. It’s about complete and total surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. WEEK Week 4 Imagine yourself in this story. Is there something in your life that Jesus would suggest might be a distraction from wholehearted commitment to Him? How would you respond if He asked you to remove that from your life, so you could concentrate more fully on His Kingdom? Daily Reading: Ezekiel 7:1–14:11, Hebrews 5:1–7:17, Psalm 105:1–45, Proverbs 26:28–27:3 FOR YOUR SMALL GROUP October 30– November 5 By percentages, estimate how your money is spent (mortgage, food, car payment, etc.). ■ If your 32 income was instantly quadrupled, how would you like to see those percentages change? 50% 25% 25% 25%
20514 Man in Mirror
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