Just a little talk...

"18 And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” 21 And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” 22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 23 But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. 24 Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! 25 For 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.” 26 Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” 27 But he said, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” 28 And Peter said, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.” 29 And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers [2] or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, 30 who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.” -Luke 18:18-30

I'm not a big fan of traditional gospel music ..but there's an old gospel song that says "We'll have a little talk with Jesus, and we'll tell Him all about our troubles....". I believe Jesus made it fairly obvious, in the Scripture quoted above, the solution to what ails us. He even topped this! He died "specifically" for you and me. "...easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle..."sell all you have". Maybe it's not a concrete evidence ...but this way of thinking speaks, to me, of Jesus' Godliness. Likewise, it sure speaks to His "human-ness". Being a fellow human ...He knows what we get hung up on. And I don't think He is picking on wealthy people specifically, or exclusively. This just happens to be the most outward, and obvious, sign of "self-containment"! We have made "wealth" our goal, as a society.

And Jesus also made it clear that it is not the act of properly obeying the law that gets us to eternity ....lest any of us should boast. He knew this fella' knew the rules. To gain, you must lose ...it appears. I believe God's word says that too.

I've often had to thank the Lord that I am glad I don't have any money to speak of. If I did ...I wonder what kind of Christ-follower I would be. I wonder if I could get my focus off of "me". What keeps you from Him?