Monday 20 June 2011

ARE YOU POOR?



Scripture: “So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, ‘ you still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” Luke 18:22

Poor

Earthly possessions are something that we tend to measure the value of our lives by. I guess Amos’ value is less; he has no earthly possessions, nothing. Even the shoes that are on his feet are not his in the strictest sense because I can take those. I have a nice saddle for him, nice blanket and other tack as well. But none of it belongs to Amos. Now when I tack him up to go trail riding he looks sharp. I admit that on a ride I want him to look his best. However, when we get all done for the day and I take all that equipment and put it up, he is only left with his shoes. Funny, he seems glad to be turned lose in his paddock. He doesn’t seem concerned at all with all the “stuff” I had on him. Ownership of stuff means nothing to Amos. Me, well I want that stuff for Amos. But it is just stuff. Amos is content with no stuff and I guess I need to work on that attitude for me.

The scripture above is a true warning to us. When the ruler asked Jesus “what shall I do to inherit eternal like?” he was not pleased with the answer. His possessions were many and he measured success by what he owned. We need to make sure that our possessions do not stand between us and are search for eternal life. Our possessions, all of them, must belong to God. If what we own belongs to God then He wants us to use them to fulfill His purpose for our lives. We need to be willing, like Amos to be able to walk away from them if God asks us to.

Prayer Thought: Lord, help me to look in my heart today and make sure all that I have belongs to you.

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