Thoughts for another day

Sept. 5, 2012.

Today's verse: Mt. 19:21. Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. (KJV)

(Pls. read the above before you read further. Thanks)

In our Scripture, Jesus reveals the formula for being perfect and I'd say, not only before God, but even in the world.  Unfortunately, the world has it all wrong, in what constitutes happiness.  For the world, money, possessions, riches, fame, etc. mean happiness in life, but Jesus amplifies, life doesn't mean abundance of possessions, for greed is the fount of possessions and greed spawns a desperate intensity to possess more and more and can drive the sanest beyond the bounds of sanity.

For us who're the citizens of the Kingdom of God, possessions needn't mean hunger for them, but a means to bless others with.  In understanding the real purpose of why we're on earth and why God put us here, it's good if we grasp that God wants us to be here for He wants us to show ourselves as proven to be His inheritance.  He wants us to be His children, for in us He must, I repeat, He must behold His image and this through our constituting the Body of His Son Jesus Christ and just as in Jesus was found no blemish, so also we, the constituents of His Body should be absent from any stain that would tarnish the Holy Name of our Father.

Beloved, it's indeed a vain proposition, you may say: how can we go sell what we have and amass treasure in heaven and be paupers on earth; for then, on what shall we subsist; this may be your rationale and surely perhaps, the argument of the rich young man who stood before Jesus in his quest to lack nothing in gaining eternal life.  But do you think having said this; the Master will allow you to be high and dry with nothing in your pocket?  Remember, God asked Abraham to go sacrifice his son Isaac.  Tell me which is more difficult: For Abraham at age 121 (probably) to sacrifice his only son to whom God had made all those promises; or for the rich man, who was young, to sell all his riches to attain heavenly treasure?  You'll certainly pick the task of the rich man as easier but when God puts the same challenge in our lives, what do we choose?  Yeah, I know, it's easy for me to write this and for you to read it, but extremely difficult to do.  But that's what our life should comprise of: shedding every desire for earthly things, and striving through to heavenly gain.  The path may not be smooth, but He who walked on water is there to hold you.  Just get moving.