Platinum Card? Still Not Enough! ♡♡♡

"Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life" - Matthew 19:16

Imagine a friend in your life, who you have never failed to invite out to all of your important celebrations. They would never honor it but would rather, post out a check to you with large sums written on it, after each invitation. Well, for some this may never be a thing, but for others who value so much more than just the "shower of wealth" in a relationship, they'd eventually begin to wonder, if thier so called friend is actually a "true friend" or just arrogant because of thier extremely well to do status. The rich young ruler's story is not exactly this scenario, but rubs me off in that kind of way.

A lot of people read the story of the rich young ruler's encounter with Jesus, and conclude that Jesus has an issue with wealthy people - Wrong. If we study the text carefully, we would find that though this wealthy young ruler came to Jesus asking "what good thing?", the heart behind what seemed like a noble quest was eventually exposed for what it truly was. The rich young ruler had thought that his "worldly wealth" could earn him a VIP ticket to front role on the salvation limo. He was wrong. If he really knew what the kingdom of God was all about, he'd realise that no matter the amount of wealth in his possession, it would never be enough to buy him his eternal life still. 

The end of the story gives it away. You'd later realise that the question "what good thing can I do?" was kinda pregnant with a lot of arrogance, than it was about the desire for eternal salvation. It reminded me of one moment few years back, when I had gone to Nigeria for my brother's wedding. My sister and I were going up the elevator with this older man in it. He turns around to my younger sister, after pestering her the whole time, whilst I watched the audacity displayed before my eyes - "I can do anything for you, just tell me anything you want. I can even make you this & make you that in this country". This is the language of the arrogant. The young ruler upon meeting Jesus, might as well have said  -"I have a Bugatti & Ferrari in my garage. That is even only a tip of the iceberg. Money is not a problem, name your price for my eternal life"

"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. Then come, follow me." At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth" Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God" - Mark 10:21-23

Oh Snaps! - The rich young ruler, eager in the beginning to do "anything good" for his eternal security, all of sudden didn't have enough. I love how the scripture says "Jesus looked at him and loved him". Jesus for sure keeps it real with the people he loves. He would deffo tell you the state of your heart. On the surface, one would think Jesus was judging this rich young ruler and all the rich people in the world. No, actually it was the other way round. The rich man judged Jesus. Jesus was "more than enough" to get that rich man where he desired to go at whatever cost, but the rich man was caught up in the web of his worldly mindset.

Friends, let me end with this analogy for another perspective. Say you hired someone for your business to meet a tight deadline. You handed them a list of things to do. Emphasized on how integral those deliverables are to your business and the consequences should the deadline be missed. However, upon your return you find that they spent the whole time "making over" the entire office, and in the end unable to get through the list of important things. Would the "blinging" office impress you? I am sure that even if the entire office were like you had never seen it before, that would not matter at all in that moment. If the success of those deliverables are tied to the continuity of the business, then the "made over" office was definitely a misplaced priority wasn't it? A waste of my time and certainly a waste of the hired servants time too.

 If we define ourselves by what is considered "good" in this world, we will always find ourselves falling short. But if we define ourselves by what the "GOOD ONE" has done for us and what he asks us to do, we will always have more than ENOUGH"

 

  

Friends, the riches of this world is nothing compared to the riches of the kingdom and that is on Mary had a little lamb! :)

Love,

SR