One thing preventing your salvation
Monday, February 28th, 2022
“Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, “You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” ~ Mk 10:21
Today, I wanted to propose a scenario. In this scenario you run into Jesus and you’re feeling good about it because you have been doing the best you can to follow all the commandments and the things you hear are supposed to be done by Christians.
Hence, you go to Jesus and ask him, “Hey Jesus, what do I need to do to earn eternal life? To get into heaven? This happy place forever and ever?”
Jesus pretty much gives you the public relations response giving you the list of regulations or core behaviors to follow.
In reply, you excitedly say, “Hey Jesus, I’ve been doing that for some time, so what else is there?
That’s when Jesus looks at you calmly and simply says, “you’re lacking in one thing, go sell what you have and give to the poor. And you will have treasure in heaven. Then come follow me.”
That’s Mark, Chapter 10, verse 21.
I believe this is part of a series of quotes I hear a lot of people use as an excuse, or maybe as a reason, for not being rich as a believer. For thinking that having a lot of money is a bad thing if I’m a follower of Christ, if I’m a believer in God.
To me, that’s an interesting belief because I have to ask,
- Why would God want me to be poor?
- What is the point of that?
- How can I help other people if I don’t have resources to help them, and I find myself struggling to make ends meet as we would like to say?
I don’t think Jesus is talking about riches being an evil thing. I think he’s responding specifically to this person, to a person that considers money and possessions to be very valuable. The person that identifies with those things.
In a way, Jesus is saying, “let those things go because he has better things for you to do.” That’s when the person realizes they can’t do that. It’s sad because they have done all those things so well, but can’t let them go.
My reflection today is:What is the thing? What are the things that I’m holding so tightly to, that I identify with so much, that are keeping me prisoner to the things of the earth and distract me from doing what I’m really supposed to do? Which is share the love of God with other people, to serve them, to help them have a better life with my talents, my knowledge, the things that I have, and the things that I can do.
Let’s see what comes up for both of us.
In peace,
~Juan
