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Scripture:
Jesus 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.” When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. (Matthew 19:21-22 NIV)How does it look like to be a Christian today?
1. Following Christ Is Not Just About the Easy Stuffs2. Following Christ Has A Cost And You Won't Like It
3. Nobody Is An Expert In Following Christ
Audio Transcript:
Hello, good afternoon guys. Welcome to this devotion. Please open our Bibles on Matthew 19:21-22. It says here, ‘Jesus 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”. When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.’
Let’s pray, “Father, we thank you for your Word, God. Help us to understand, Lord, what it is that You want us to know. And help us, Lord, to not only to know this, Lord, but to apply it in our lives as we rely in Your power and grace, God, to continue living in this modern world as Christians of modern day. Thank you, God, for everything. We love you and we praise you, In Jesus’ name, Amen.
A Day In The Life Of A Modern Day Christian
So I entitled this devotion as “A Day in the Life of a Modern Christian”. How does it look like to be a Christian today? I’ve always been curious whether or not I am living this life right because sometimes, there are things that I find hard to do but when I look at Sid or Kuya Reyrey or Sir Greynahr or whatever, whoever it is, they seem to be doing it well. I often ask myself, “Why does following Christ seems easy for others to do while I’m here struggling so hard daily.” Diba? So I entitled it “A Day in the Life of a Modern Christian.”Now, we look at the story in Matthew 19, this story where Jesus encounters a rich young man. While this young man is not actually a Christian but the lesson we can learn from this encounter is worth keeping as we go along in our Christian life. So, brief background: This young man, came to Jesus and he was asking for the secret to gaining eternal life. Then Jesus replied, “Keep the commandments.” Then he asked, “Which ones?” he inquired. Then Jesus replied, “You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimonies. Honour you father and mother. Love your neighbour as yourself.” “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
Notice that Jesus specified some commandments because the man asked. What’s interesting was the young man’s reply. ‘“All these I have kept”, the young man said, “what do I still lack?”’ All these I have kept, pretty bold thing to say, but let’s not judge the guy. Maybe he really did obey those specific commandments, diba? Let’s say, he did. In fact, Jesus probably specified those because Jesus knew that the young man really obey those specific commandments. What if, not murdering, not committing adultery, not stealing, etc. were easy for this man to do. What if it’s easy for him to do? Then, he may have really obeyed them. It’s easy for him. Everybody wants the easy job orders, we all want to do the easy stuffs because they are less hassle, they don’t mix up with our schedule. Which leads me to my first point which is:
Following Christ Is Not Just About The Easy Stuff
There are certain commandments that are easy for us to do. For example: “Don’t lie”. For me, I don’t like deceiving people so it’s easy for me to not lie. “Do not steal”. I have a lot of things, money, no, I don’t have a lot of money but I don’t need to steal. “Go to church”. I like to go to church because I feel at home there. It’s easy to obey that commandment or go to church. You see, life is not about the easy stuffs. It’s easy to post a Bible verse on Facebook or twitter but it’s hard to live it out. It’s easy to attend a Sunday service but it’s hard to listen intently.It’s easy to sing worship songs but it’s hard to practice on time or it’s hard to mean it, right? Every word. There a lot of easy things to do in Christian life today and there’s nothing wrong with doing them. If you are just starting in faith, start with the easy ones. If you are a long time Christian, KEEP doing the easy things. But the problem is this, the problems comes if we only do the easy stuffs. If we only do the easy stuff, we will not grow. We grow by what we suffer. We grow by what we encounter, when we encounter this hard problems in life, these hard things to do. We grow when we persevere. Above all, when if we do only need to do this easy stuffs, what would we need God for? We won’t need God because we can do them ourselves. That’s why the young man, after having done the easy stuffs in the commandments, he said, ‘“All these I have kept”, the young man said, “What do I still lack?”’
It feels like there’s something missing, as if he’s doing something wrong. I often feel wonder about the same thing myself. “What am I doing wrong? I want to have that abundant life that God promises, that life full of grace and joy in Christ but there’s something missing. Why am I still stuck in this trouble? What do I still lack?”
‘Jesus replied, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give them to the poor and you will have treasures in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this, he walked away sad because he has great wealth.’ (Matthew 19:21-22) So, here, Jesus, as if peeking through the heart of this man, He revealed the things he is denying from God. He may have done the easy stuff but he has not done the hard stuffs yet. He finds it hard to surrender his wealth, you see. So this is my second point:
Following Christ Has A Cost and You Won’t Like It
This story is not about Jesus being against wealth. He can give us everything we need. He is our Provider. He can provide for us if we ask. If we ask with the right motives, He can give it to us. But this story is about something we find hard to do. Well, something, we find hard to surrender to God. This man may have done the easy stuff, but he’s not done the stuff. For him, it just so happen to be money, but for you and me, it may be different. I, personally, I find it hard to fight lust. I’ve always battled against it, struggled hard, but for you, it might be a piece of cake. God may be asking you to let go of that toxic relationship you’ve been having or you’ve been keeping but you don’t find the strength to do so. Or maybe you have to stop using your phone, your social media for a week but you can’t seem to live without it.It’s when these hard things are revealed by God to us that obedience really mattered. But the truth is, it’s really hard. Another thing: We can’t judge someone’s weaknesses on the basis of our strength. I can say to you, “Forgive your parents,” but that’s hard after all that your father has done to you. On the other hand, my family goes along with each other pretty well. I can easily say, “Break up with that guy,” when I’ve never been in a romantic relationship. You can say to me, “The fight against lust is easy” when you don’t have that struggle. You see, each of us has things that are easy for us to do and there are also those that we find hard to do, but it’s okay. It’s okay! Let’s continue to the story.
‘When the young man heard this, he went away sad because he has great wealth.’
This was the last part, right? When the young man heard this, when he heard Jesus saying, “Give up your wealth, sell all your possessions and give it to the poor and follow me.” When he heard that, he went away sad because he had great wealth. If you notice, Jesus didn’t just drive the young man away. Jesus did not say, “Away from me you evil doer,” or “Away from me you unbelieving hard-hearted man,” right? No, the man just walked away on his own. He walked away because he can’t surrender his great wealth. What if he did not walk away? Right? This man could have been a Christian by now. We don’t know. The Bible didn’t say. But what if he didn’t walk away? Question: “Is there something that would make you walk away on God?” Something you find hard to surrender, something you find hard to obey. Jonah walked away from God because it’s hard for him to obey what God commanded him – to go to Nineveh. What is it that, you find hard to obey God? I believe we all have that.
We all have a hard stuff to do. But the difference between you and this rich man, this rich young man, is he walked away. Don’t walk away. God has not driven you away because you find it hard to obey. No! He will not drive you away because you are second guessing yourself. God will not drive you away. God will not forsake you because you are struggling with ‘this’ stuff. The fact that it’s hard to obey is the very reason that you need to stay.
‘Jesus say, “It is hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who, then, can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man, this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26)
If only that young man stayed. Yes, it’s hard right now but it’s okay. It’s hard because God knows you need Him. You can’t do it on your own. You can do the easy stuffs all you want. But when God asks you to do something hard, something discomforting, something inconvenient, you can’t just walk away. Stay and ask for His help.
In our modern life today, Christianity has been made easy. With technology and information age, we can do almost anything. But if you look deep down, there’s always a hard thing to do. That hard struggle is an opportunity – an opportunity to know God better and to experience His fullness in your life.
Lastly, number 3:
No One Is An Expert in Following Christ
Remember when I mentioned si Sid and Kuya Reyrey and Kuya Grey that they seemed to have figured out Christianity. That’s not true. As I said, we all have different struggles. We all have different strengths and weaknesses. Which means, some things will be easy for us, some will be hard. What’s hard for me may be easy for them. But there are also things that they are struggling against. It’s a growth process.Today, you may be struggling with trusting God in your finances but when you breakthrough that struggle, that doesn’t mean that you are an expert in Christian life. God will always reveal a new hard thing for you to do. That’s why, Jesus’ last word to the rich young man was, “Come, follow me.” It’s a journey – a journey of discovering the surpassing growth in the glory of Christ and a journey of overcoming those weaknesses, and new struggles and new hard things to do.
We don’t become experts of Christian life. If so, we would already be in heaven. But seeing as if we are still here in this world means there’s so much more journey left to take and so much too hard things to do which in turn will become so much of Christ to know about. So if today, you find Christianity hard, don’t worry. It’s supposed to be that way. Just don’t walk away but take this as an opportunity to witness God’s power and grace manifested in your life as little by little, you surrender those struggles, grace to grace He changes you from glory to glory. Let’s pray.
Lord, thank you for your Word. Thank you, God, that even though it’s hard, Lord, to live this life, even though there are certain things that we find hard to obey, Lord, You have already fulfilled every commandments for us, every laws for us, Lord. And You have promised that if we do it ourselves, it’s impossible but with You, it is possible. So, Lord, we rely on your power, God, to overcome our struggles, to overcome our weaknesses, to obey the hard things God that you want us to do. We know that you will not command this, Lord, if you didn’t have anything planned for us, if You didn’t plan a breakthrough for us, Lord.
You didn’t command us a hard thing to do if you didn’t want us to grow, if You didn’t want us to know more of You. Lord, the fact that we are finding it hard, Lord, to live a Christian life in the modern world today, is the very proof, God that you are here, that you are working in our lives, Lord. So, Lord, help us to bear with it. Help us to keep walking with you. Help us to stay with you and not walk away God because it’s only through You that we would live a life, Lord, that is, truly life abundant, full of problems, full of struggles, yes, but a satisfying life in Christ. Thank you, Lord, for everything. We love You and we praise You, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
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