WHO HAS YOUR HEART?

Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” He said to Him, “Which ones?”

Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’  ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?”

Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. 

     

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, 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.”

When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?”

But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Then Peter answered and said to Him, “See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?”

So Jesus said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first. {Mat 19:16 – 30 NKJV}

 I don’t know how many times I’ve heard this particular scripture taken out of context in conversations as well as in sermons. Many believe that it means God would prefer if we remain poor and follow Him. They also advocate that financial and material wealth are not God’s will for us, and go ahead and justify  using verse 23 & 24: {“Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, 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.”}

I remember sometime early last year, my fiancé and I happened to be in conversation with this young woman who was not born again. We shared with her the word of God and went on to share our individual salvation journeys and the things we had to sacrifice along the way, for the sake of our relationship with God. I shared how I resigned from my job for ministry, after getting an instruction from God (read my blog ‘God’s got jokes’ for details). 

This was her response “I would never give up anything for God; I don’t want to be poor.”

How many like her, live under the same deception? That God wants us to be poor? People have got to not only read the word of God in context, but also ask the Holy Spirit for understanding.

Does God want us to be financially and materially poor? NO

If that were true then God would not have; created the Earth with all its resources, made man in his very image and likeness, placed him in it and given him dominion over it {Gen 1:26-28}.

Many are the times we, like the young rich ruler deceive ourselves into believing we are righteous, because of all our good deeds. But the truth is; only God is righteous! As much as the young ruler kept all the commandments, there was no place in his heart for God. His wealth had him. He had made his wealth an idol and he wasn’t ready to give it all up for a relationship with God.

Jesus did not want him to lose everything and become poor; He wanted to set him free from what had him. To bring him to a realization that, as long as his possession had the first place in his heart, then it would be impossible for him to attain the eternal life he was asking about, because only Christ can usher you into salvation and hence eternal life. Jesus showed him the door to freedom and eternal life, but the young rich ruler had to walk through it.

The bible says that we cannot serve two masters; either God has first place in your heart or He doesn’t. The young rich ruler wanted both his possession and God, to reign in Him but that was not possible, and he wasn’t ready to lose his wealth as his master. And he unfortunately chose to walk away from the door.

It’s pointless to be financially and materially rich without God-gaining the whole world and losing your soul. In the end, when you die, you don’t take what you owned in the world with you, you leave it here, and proceed to an eternity of damnation. But with God, you have everything: you have Him and therefore the wisdom to create this wealth, and after death, you have eternal life with Him. 

Which one would you rather have?

God made Abraham, Isaac and Jacob so wealthy that as individuals, they were a threat to Nations. And should I even start on Solomon? God wants us to be wealthy, and is willing to give us the wisdom how, just like He did the above mentioned men. You may say, “Aah, but that only happened in the bible; there are no real life examples to relate to.”

 

Well here is one….

God created us in His image, put His ability in us, and gave us dominion over the whole earth. He did not do this for the sake of doing it; He did it with a purpose. This purpose is; to serve Him in reconciling everything back to Him. We are to transform every sphere of this earth as it is in heaven. So, wherever it is that God has placed you charge over has to transform into heaven, by virtue of you being there; whether you’re a doctor or a stay home mum. If our kingdom/area of dominion is not like heaven then, we’re not there yet. And in our assignment, we need to keep our focus only on God.

Elsewhere in the scriptures, Abraham waited for the son God promised him for 25yrs. Later on God asked Abraham to sacrifice to him the same boy. Why?  Was God being a sadist? No. God just wanted to check where Abraham’s heart was - If the blessing had gotten hold of him.

My deepest desire is that we all come to a place where God holds the highest place in our hearts. Not our spouses, children, businesses, careers, jobs, friends, cars, clothes, houses and certainly not money. Having our entire focus on God; the giver of these blessings, and not on the blessings themselves. Because with the blessings comes temptation and distraction that may cause us to veer off the path God has laid out for us. {1Timothy 6:9-10}

May God be our only focus of worship, and may we allow Him to be the center of every blessing He gives us, so that the blessings don’t possess us, like they did the young ruler.

Parting shot:

The greatest test of our love for and commitment to God, comes from what God gives us (the blessing/the fulfilled promises); and not from what we don’t have.

Whatever has your heart is you God 

What/Who has your heart?

#Selah