What Has Your Heart?

 December 2, 2024

Monday

Matthew 19:16-22 (NIV) ¹⁶  Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?" ¹⁷  "Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments." ¹⁸  "Which ones?" the man inquired. Jesus replied, "'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, ¹⁹  honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'" ²⁰  "All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?" ²¹  Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." ²²  When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

If this young man came into the church today, we would be so excited just to have a young man who appears to be fervent for the Lord that we wouldn't challenge him in what keeps him from the Lord. We would have run after him saying, "That's okay. Just come to church when you can." But Jesus was willing to let him walk away rather than remain at a distance because of his money.

Many times I have been told that I shouldn't mention money in the church because that might run people off. I disagree. There is no might about it! It will run people off! But is attendance at church the main goal? Is it better to have a full church building who have something between them and the Lord or a sparsely attended church with people truly committed to the Lord. And even that is a dilemma. A fully committed church will not be sparsely attended because it will attract people who are coming closer to the Lord. A fully committed church isn't satisfied with leaving people in the state they are in. It seeks to remove the obstacles. It seeks a deeper walk with the Lord. It is full of testimonies because God has worked in the lives of the members.

I would have liked the story of this young man to have a happy ending. I would have liked to hear that he repented, gave away all that he had a followed Jesus. We have no record of this and I believe the Bible would have recorded such an event. He went away sad because he loved his money more than Jesus. Money had his heart.

On the other hand, a widow came and gave her last two cents. What happened there?