THINK TOGETHER.
Is your family rich?
READ TOGETHER.
Luke 18:18-23. 18And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 19And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 20You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” 21And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” 22When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 23But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.
Here is a conversation with Jesus that starts out great. A ruler asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life? We might say it this way – How do I get saved? Or, how do I go to Heaven?
Right away we can tell that this ruler needs some correction. He asks what must I DO? But we can’t DO anything to earn eternal life, can we? We can only receive it as a gift. As grace.
Jesus wants to teach the ruler this important point by pointing out how impossible it is to earn Heaven. So Jesus asks the ruler if he has kept the Ten Commandments – Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.
Now let’s pause here and ask this question: has anyone (besides Jesus) ever obeyed all of the Ten Commandments perfectly? The answer is, of course, NO! That’s why Jesus says that no one is good but God. No one has ever kept the Ten Commandments to perfection except Jesus, who IS God.
Here’s where the conversation goes wrong. This man claims to have obeyed the commandment – All these I have kept from my youth. But instead of correcting him, Jesus decides to push him further – One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me. Can you tell what Jesus is doing? He knows that this rich ruler won’t give up his money in order to follow Jesus. He claims to have obeyed perfectly, and I’m sure he was a very good kid growing up, but he still loves his riches over God. And so he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.
Is there anything you love more than God? Remember, like this rich ruler, just because you are well behaved and obey the rules, that doesn’t mean that you love God. If there is something that you value more than Jesus, something that you wouldn’t give away for him, then, even though your outward behavior might be good, your heart might be far from God.
The good news is that when we trust in Jesus to save us, he begins to gradually make THINGS less and less important to us. And he becomes more and more important to us in our hearts. Can you tell that Jesus is doing this in your heart? Is he becoming more and more important and valuable to you?
Because of Jesus we don’t have to obey the Ten Commandments to go to Heaven; we simply receive him.
With Jesus we can let go of our things and treasure him the most.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Work together to find some things that you can give away to those in need. Remember to check your heart attitude while you do it.
PRAY TOGETHER
Father, I don’t want to be greedy. Help my heart to grow more in love with you each day. Amen.
TLICfamily 