Project 119: Mark 10:17-31
| Project 119
“All-In”
I’ve always found the story of the rich young man quite sad. This man wants so desperately to be with God forever in the afterlife, but he doesn’t understand the true way to get there. The rich young man holds a view of works-based salvation, asking what he can do to inherit eternal life. He tells Jesus that he has kept all the commandments. This man has lived a moral life, but is that enough to get him into heaven?
Jesus loves this man despite his misunderstanding of salvation. He tests the rich man’s faith by asking him to give all he has to the poor and then follow Jesus. Now, the giving of the riches is not what would have saved the man from the consequences of his sins. Jesus is not advocating works-based salvation. Humans can do no good thing in order to merit God’s forgiveness. It is the accepting of God’s grace and following of Christ that would have saved the rich man. Here, Jesus is testing the man to see if he is “all-in.”
Unfortunately, the rich man does not heed Jesus’s invitation to follow Him. To be a Christ follower, one cannot have one hand in heaven and one in the world. The rich man grasped so firmly onto his material possessions that he chose them over the treasures that could be laid up for him in heaven.
Examine your heart today. Are you “all-in” when it comes to following Jesus? What areas of your life are you, like the rich man, unwilling to give up for the sake of Christ? It can be incredibly difficult to let go of our possessions, hopes, dreams, and desires, but we see that it is not impossible if God is on our side. Ask the Lord to reveal the areas in your life that you are not giving over fully to Him. Thank Him that salvation cannot be earned, only graciously accepted as a free gift. Jesus paid it all for us; may we give up all for Him.
Mark 10:17-31 (ESV):
17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And 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 bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” 20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
23 And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” 28 Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” 29 Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”