Oh Jonah! Why do we rely on a lie? Because the Lie looks and smells really good! Ever had a caramel apple? Have you ever seen the different flavors they have? Try resisting them!! I dare you!! I was thinking the other day about why we have such a hard time following Christ! We say...Lord, Lord...I will do what's right..isn't that enough...? I'll give you parts of my life...I'll do what you say and I'll follow..Funny how much of Jonah's life was saturated with the work of the Lord!! He was doing so many things well and for the work of God! Yet, when asked to completely give his life and future over to God's whim and go to Niniveh..Jonah ran away sad....Consider another young child of God, a child that ran away sad!! The Scriptures tell us in Matthew 19:16-30
The Rich and the Kingdom of God
16 Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”
18 “Which ones?” he inquired.
Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’[a] and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’[b]”
20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
21 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.”
22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”
26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
We can be richer than any of our wildest dreams in Christ...but we hold onto one thing and lose all the rest don't we? The truth is not in focusing on how hard it is to follow Christ...because to give your self to something..anything is easy...we do it everyday! The ease is in the reality of the sell out!! You know, the great sell out...Satan had a bake sale and apples are definitely on the menu!! Money apples...Car apples, computer apples, romance apples...church service apples, important job apples...ect...are all on Satan's table...the price? Just your soul..!! Christ asks us for our life..not that we do all things right...!! Christ wants your soul!! So, it's not hard to give your life over to a person...the question is simply, which person will you choose? The one having the apple sale? Or, will you choose the one who made the apples? Oh, Lord we want to choose you, the maker of the apples! We cannot leave any apples on the table for the devil to use in his bake sale..we have to give them all back to Christ and then we are free to follow.
When we leave something on the table, the devil can hit us from any angle. When we choose to give God all of our life, the devil cannot sell us His lie.
Matthew reminds us,
And what happens if we do give it all to Christ?
27 Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”
28 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife[c] or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.
With your strength and power, enable us to see that we have been deceived! Yes, we have given our lives over to the deceiver! Instead Lord, we choose to give you everything and to leave no apples on the table!
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