And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.
Jesus expressed concern for this “certain ruler.” We would do well to have the same concern for him and those like him.
First, I see he was religious
He came to Jesus interested in matters of eternal life. He knew the commandments. He was a man of religion. We might think of him as spiritual.
Second, he would have been thought of as good
At least he thought of himself that way. He said he had kept all the commandments of the Word since his youth. He was not riotous or rebellious. He wasn’t even reckless. On the contrary, he would have been an upstanding community member.
Finally, we learn that he was rich
We like to call him the rich young ruler, but that is not how the Bible describes him. He was a ruler first. Rich was third on the list.
There is more than one sort of wealth. Pride can create a sense of wealth. I think of the church of Laodicea who thought of themselves as rich and needing nothing when in truth, they were poor, miserable, blind, and naked.
This ruler’s trouble is the same as many a modern churchgoer. As good as they see themselves to be, as spiritual as their lifestyle may reveal them to be, they miss the kingdom of God.
This certain ruler may even have an advantage over so many in churches today. He was at least willing to ask about eternal life. My concern is for those so sure of themselves that they cannot imagine themselves not possessing a home in heaven.
To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.
Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824
For this and, more than 5600 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.
If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.
For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.
My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org
Buy me a coffee?
If you have been blessed by my devotional messages, you are able to leave me a small thank you at my Ko-Fi page.
No comments:
Post a Comment