Jesus said to him, If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me. (Matthew 19:21) There is always at least one thing that keeps you hostage to imperfection. It is that one weakness, that one aspect, that one thing habit that always gets the best of you, causing you to stumble or fall short. It could be food, clothes, smoking/drinking, debt, education, tastes and preferences, etc. In fact, you may call it a quirk of your personality, but that only make the fact that it is just plainly a shortcoming and imperfection. Better yet, we look at those traits and pretend that it is God’s design fault. For the rich man in this passage, it is his wealth that kept him from being perfect. I’m not talking about being wealthy, because there is nothing wrong with being wealthy. It is his cherishing of wealth that keeps him from being “perfect.” The perfection that Jesus was talking about was about the sanctification required within a person to be acceptable before the epitome of perfection, who is God, the Father. In plain English, that means, the exact right heart, mind and soul needed to be like Him, who created us into being. The rich man could not even reach the bare minimum in terms of having the right heart, mind or soul to be right with God because of how he cherished his wealth. All of us have something we cherish way too much and it keeps us from having the heart of God, the mind of God, to soul of God. If it is drugs that is holding you back, you may want to consider what you want out of life? Is it the drugs that will sustain you or would you enjoy the life God wants to give with you if you gave it up. Likewise, would you like the money you get after taxes to sustain you or God to sanctify you into perfection by lettering go of that money to follow Jesus. Maybe it’s neither drugs nor money, but perhaps people. Are you holding so tightly to people that you can’t let them go to follow Christ? Better yet, it may be a lifestyle or a secret. I can keep on listing things, but I think you understand that there is something that makes all of fall short. In fact, this is why we need Jesus every single day and in every single way. We so desperately want to be right with God and be with God, but there always seems to be that one thing that keeps us from fully giving ourselves to God. The most difficult decision you will ever make is the decision to let go of these things and become perfect by following Jesus. Right now is the right time to get rid of it all and follow Jesus. Make that decision today and everyday.
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