WATCHWORD:
17 As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do so that I may inherit eternal life?” 18 But Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not give false testimony, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” 20 And he said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth.” 21 Looking at him, Jesus showed love to him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 22 But he ]was deeply dismayed by these words, and he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property. Mark 10:17-22
Meditation:
I Surrender All?
All to Jesus I surrender
All to Him I freely give
I will ever love and trust Him
In His presence daily live
I surrender all
I surrender all
All to Thee
My blessed Savior
I surrender all
Do we sing that? Do we say that? Do we mean that? The words of this hymn are loaded. Phrases like “I will ever love and trust Him”. Can we check that one off? Do you place your trust there, with Him? How about “in His presence daily live.” Do you meet that standard, every moment of every day? Got that one? Okay, then we come to the crusher, “My blessed Savior, I surrender all”. All, everything, not a scrap that we can call our own. It is ALL His. Think long and hard about that one.
And the rich young ruler sought out Jesus, the great teacher, and asked an important question that he needed an answer to: What shall I do so that I may inherit eternal life? Jesus loved him for coming and asking. Then Jesus gave the answer to the man and to us, “go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
We read that man’s response and maybe we scoff at him. Perhaps we think he doesn’t understand Jesus’ statement. Maybe we have avoided applying his answer to our situation. We’d rather not think about the struggle we may have with something as basic as thithing, or reaching out to the unfortunate, or perhaps something as simple as turning our sympathy for another into active empathy. Or maybe we are so into ourselves that we do not think He is talking to us and that answer doesn’t apply to us. After all, we have followed more than the seven Commandments that the man responded to. After all, we follow all Ten! Aren’t we proud?
It is not an easy road we travel with Jesus. It is not easy to surrender it all. We love and cherish our worries, and find comfort in our fretting for others. Maybe we parse out those things we will surrender to Him, and hold close other things because they reflect favorably on us and maybe our friends will give us credit for being a really good person. And Jesus smiles at us because He knows the human mind and how frail and how self-centered it can be. We are indeed little selfish children in so many ways. Help us Lord, to rely on Your presence and love, and put away childish things.
Saturday’s Watchword:
A little different. Entitled “Nine is not enough”. A thought we all entertain during the course of our lives in one form or another, or using different words. Stan.
Prayer of Surrender:
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for teaching us what it means to surrender. You are an example of how to be humble and how to submit our will to God. Today I pray like Jesus and say Father not my will, but Your will be done in my life. Even if Your will is hard and painful just like the crucifixion was for Jesus, I still choose it because there is great reward in it. Help me to follow Your ways, in all ways, Jesus. I want to obey God and live according to Your word. Amen.
