ARE YOU GOING TO SETTLE?

Haley Kelly

I remember the first time I ever went on any type of retreat at Verve. It was the Back to School Overnighter in September 2013. That night at service the message was about the rich young ruler in Mark 10:17-22. If you haven’t heard the story before, basically this rich young ruler who had it ALL came up to Jesus and asked what he must do to enter the kingdom of Heaven. Jesus tells him that he should keep the commandments. But the man says that he has kept them all since he was a small boy. Jesus then told him to sell EVERYTHING he had and give to the poor, and then to come follow Him. Verse 22 says that the man’s face fell and he went away sad because he had great wealth.

So let’s pause here and just evaluate this story real quick. This rich young ruler asked what he could do to gain eternal life. However, our walk with Jesus is not about keeping a list of rules. God wants our heart and He proved this in verse 21 when He told the man to sell everything he had and follow Him. So now, is God saying that we all have to sell our things in order to enter into His kingdom? No. You see, with this particular man God knew that his heart belonged to a different god. It was the god of money.

           

The rich young ruler loved his earthly treasures so much that he chose them over Heavenly treasures. He settled for temporary things instead of everlasting. Think about that... Which option would you choose? For example, Option #1: Out of your entire life, you will be able to eat dessert for just one whole day without getting sick or gaining weight. Or Option #2: Go just one day without dessert, and then the rest of your life being able to eat dessert without getting sick or gaining weight. I would agree that Option #2 would be best. My point in all of this is to show how foolish it is for the rich young ruler to choose to keep his earthly possessions when in comparison to eternity it would be like choosing Option #1.

Read PSALM 37: 1-5

The lie we believe is that total surrender to Jesus will leave us missing out or wanting something else. Except the truth is that Jesus satisfies our searching! So what are you holding onto that is keeping you from Jesus? Don’t settle for earthly things/people when you can choose an everlasting joy and fulfillment that you will have for eternity. Passion for God drives out lust for other things, and your desire for worldly things changes to the desires of God.