In order to follow Jesus we must give up everything that challenges our allegiance to him. Consider the following story found in Matthew 10:16-22:
Someone came to Jesus with this question: ?Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life??17??Why ask me about what is good?? Jesus replied. ?There is only One who is good. But to answer your question?if you want to receive eternal life, keep the commandments.?18??Which ones?? the man asked. And Jesus replied: ??You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely.19?Honor your father and mother. Love your neighbor as yourself.? ?20??I?ve obeyed all these commandments,? the young man replied. ?What else must I do??21?Jesus told him, ?If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.?22?But when the young man heard this, he went away very sad, for he had many possessions. (NLT)
The man in the story truly believed that he had kept all of the commandments his entire life (he did not; no one does). But he kept on breaking a major commandment found in Exodus 20:3 that says, ?You must not have any other god but me.? (NLT) The man?s possessions had become his god. A god doesn?t have to be an idol made of wood, stone, metal or clay. A god is anything that captivates our attention, affection and devotion and that competes with God for our loyalty. Drugs, sex and fame are a few of the many gods that we may choose to serve.
Because the man?s possessions were a god in his life Jesus said to him, ?If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.? (NLT) Notice the order of Jesus? words. He said ?sell all your possessions? before saying, ?Then come, follow me.? In essence Jesus was telling him, ?Let go of your god first, and then come follow me.? It goes back to what Jesus said in Matthew 6:24: ?No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.? (NLT) This man could not follow Jesus because his possessions were his god and he was unwilling to let go of them. In the same way, we cannot follow Christ if we have another god in our life; and we will never grow spiritually and never experience spiritual transformation if there is another god other than Jesus at the center of our life.
What follows in the story is sad. Matthew 19:22 says, ?But when the young man heard this, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.? (NLT) What made him sad was the fact that he had to choose between following Jesus and holding on to his many possessions. He wanted to hold on to his god and include Jesus. But Jesus didn?t give him this option, so the young man made his choice by walking away from the Lord. Turns out he valued his many possessions more than he did Jesus.
What god/s are you struggling to let go of in your life? Why do you value it/them above Christ? Consider what the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:8-9: ?Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ9?and become one with him.? (NLT) You will never grow spiritually or experience transformation until you give up everything that challenges your allegiance to Jesus. There can be no other gods before him.
