"The land must never be sold on a permanent basis, for the land belongs to me. You are only foreigners and tenant farmers working for me." (Leviticus 25:23 NLT)
How many times do we get caught up in the idea that what is ours is actually ours? Is not God very clear throughout the Bible that we only have what He has given to us? But we constantly claim what is not ours. It belongs to me, or I earned it. We are taught this lesson in our Leviticus passage today. God set up this way of doing things that would make the people understand that what we have is just on loan from our creator. Every 50 years, the land that people were living in would be turned back over to the original clan who had settled in it, and every person who was driven into slavery to his neighbor because of need would be set free, and every debt would be wiped clean. The year of jubilee was a great plan by God to kind of level the playing field, to not have monopoly. To show people that everything we have is from Him, and does not belong to us.
In our passage in Mark, we get a glimpse of what happens when we don't realize that everything is His.
"Teacher," the man replied, "I've obeyed all these commandments since I was young." Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. "There is still one thing you haven't done," he told him. "Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." At this the man's face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God!" This amazed them. But Jesus said again, "Dear children, it is very hard to enter the Kingdom of God. In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!" (Mark 10:20-25 NLT)
My dad taught about this passage at their church this past week. The main point that my dad was trying to make was that this was a matter of the heart. This man had turned money into his god, ignoring the commandment "thou shalt have no other gods before me." One of the things that my dad said was "It is possible for our desire for more stuff, to keep us from our desire for more God. Do you own stuff, or does your stuff own you?" I thought this was such a great statement. This man turned his back on Jesus because he had made money into his god. His heart longed for money and power, not for the God he claimed to follow, who was standing right in front of him. Many people we know have chosen to make the wrong god the lord of their lives. After all, we live in Fairfield County, which is pretty much the richest area in all the world. I'm pretty sure that every one of us knows at least one person who has made money their god. Perhaps it is even you. Perhaps you put more emphasis on obtaining worldly wealth than on a relationship with the living God. Money and worldly wealth is the easiest god to put before our God. We need a heart-check to make sure that we have put the right thing as our God.
Sent from my iPad
No comments:
Post a Comment