You Think That Is Too Much To Ask?

December 7, 2015

You Think That Is Too Much To Ask?

“Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect . . .””

Matthew 19:21

On December 3^rd I wrote about the young man seeking eternal life, and noted that he still hadn’t found what he was looking for. Perhaps he did find the key to eternal life and just wasn’t willing to pay the price. Perhaps what he was looking for was too expensive. By expensive, I don’t necessarily mean dollars and cents, although Matthew does note that Jesus told the man to sell all of his possessions and give the money to the poor. Matthew says “when the young man heard this, he went away sad, for he had many possessions” (Matthew 19:22). Money had something to do with the young man’s decision; some, but not all.

I think maybe the young man got hung up on Jesus’ first statement: “If you want to be perfect . . .”.  Perfect here does not mean without flaw or blemish. Perfect here means being perfectly willing to be conformed to God’s will, perfectly willing to open yourself completely so that God may form Christ within you. Here, perfect means being perfectly submitted to God so that God can work His will through your life. Jesus certainly seems to be saying that if we desire eternal life, we must be willing to lay ourselves bare before God and allow our Heavenly Potter to place us on His wheel and form us to His specifications. In short, Jesus says God wants all of us. How many of us are like the young man in Matthew’s Gospel and recoil at the notion of God invading every pore of our being?

I want to so yield my life to God, but I do have one condition. In exchange, I want the Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, to live in me. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, I want Him to give life to my mortal body by His Spirit living within me. (See Romans 8:11)

You think that is too much to ask?

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.