“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.'"
Mark 10:21
The essence of eternal life is a heart issue. Until the ruler’s heart was healthy and he put his relationship with Jesus above all else, he wouldn’t experience eternal life. He wasn’t involved in blatant sinning. And being wealthy is not a sin. But his riches were on the throne of his life rather than the Lord.
When wealth is so valued that it impedes a relationship with Jesus, eternal life slips out of reach. Eternal life—the only wealth that matters forever—comes through His sacrifice for us and our grateful response to follow Him.
The words of Isaac Watts’ 1707 hymn describe this well: “Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast/ save in the death of Christ, my God!/ All the vain things that charm me most,/ I sacrifice them through his blood./ See, from his head, his hands, his feet,/ sorrow and love flow mingled down./ Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,/ or thorns compose so rich a crown?/ Were the whole realm of nature mine,/ that were a present far too small./ Love so amazing, so divine,/ demands my soul, my life, my all.”
When wealth is so valued that it impedes a relationship with Jesus, eternal life slips out of reach. Eternal life—the only wealth that matters forever—comes through His sacrifice for us and our grateful response to follow Him.
The words of Isaac Watts’ 1707 hymn describe this well: “Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast/ save in the death of Christ, my God!/ All the vain things that charm me most,/ I sacrifice them through his blood./ See, from his head, his hands, his feet,/ sorrow and love flow mingled down./ Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,/ or thorns compose so rich a crown?/ Were the whole realm of nature mine,/ that were a present far too small./ Love so amazing, so divine,/ demands my soul, my life, my all.”
Scripture Focus
Mark 10:17-27
Insight
Help us to count our richest gain in this world as loss compared to the wealth we have in Jesus Christ through the wondrous cross.
Bible In A Year
- Genesis 39-40
- Psalm 20
- Matthew 28