16Now
a man came up to Jesus and asked,
"Teacher, what good thing must I do to
get eternal life?" 17"Why do you ask me
about what is good?" Jesus replied.
"There is only One who is good. If you
want to enter life, obey the
commandments."
18"Which ones?"
the man inquired.
Jesus replied,
" 'Do not murder, do not commit
adultery, do not steal, do not give
false testimony, 19honor your father and
mother,'[a] and 'love your neighbor as
yourself.'[b]"
20"All these I
have kept," the young man said. "What do
I still lack?"
21Jesus answered,
"If you want to be perfect, go, sell
your possessions and give to the poor,
and you will have treasure in heaven.
Then come, follow me."
22When
the young man heard this, he went away
sad, because he had great wealth.
23Then Jesus said to his disciples,
"I tell you the truth, it is hard for a
rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
24Again I tell you, it is easier for a
camel to go through the eye of a needle
than for a rich man to enter the kingdom
of God."
25When the disciples
heard this, they were greatly astonished
and asked, "Who then can be saved?"
26Jesus looked at them and said,
"With man this is impossible, but with
God all things are possible."
27Peter answered him, "We have left
everything to follow you! What then will
there be for us?"
28Jesus said
to them, "I tell you the truth, at the
renewal of all things, when the Son of
Man sits on his glorious throne, you who
have followed me will also sit on twelve
thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
Israel. 29And everyone who has left
houses or brothers or sisters or father
or mother[c] or children or fields for
my sake will receive a hundred times as
much and will inherit eternal life.
30But many who are first will be last,
and many who are last will be first.
VERSE: They are experts in
greed--an accursed brood! --2 Peter 2:14
Thought:
YGreed still rules. At companies
like Enron, WorldCom, and Global
Crossing, the urge to increase profits
and to inflate stock prices (and the
value of stock options for corporate
officers) seems to have overwhelmed
individual integrity.
I am not
in a position to judge these individuals
or cases. I can balance my checkbook and
do my own taxes, but those are like
guppies compared to the complex whale of
accounting law.
The way the
stock market responded (plunges
previously seen only with parachutes)
and the way legal officials sprang into
action, the consensus is: "Wall Street,
we have a problem."
It is
tempting to say, "I would never do
something like that. Greed for money or
success would never overwhelm my faith."
But we should be careful about such
talk. Better to be humble now than to be
humbled when our actions don't match our
words.
One reason the stock
market went down at that time was that
wary investors feared that every company
was "cooking the books," producing
positive results through "creative"
accounting. It will take a lot of
reform--actions, not words--to restore
that confidence.
The same thing
happens when Christians try to "cook
their books" and present a more positive
front than the reality of their faith.
The result? Non-Christians apply that
kind of hypocrisy to every Christian
they know. Granted, all have sinned, but
the cynicism dismisses even the most
sincere Christian. In the same way, it
takes actions--not words--to restore
confidence. Anyone can say, "I'm sorry
and I'll do better." But when we
actually do better, people realize that
we're serious.
So how is your
spiritual bottom line? A spiritual audit
might uncover some accounting
irregularities. But don't be afraid to
start that process. God's grace will
make up for any spiritual shortfall you
are experiencing.
Questions to consider:
***How has greed affected my faith?
***How can I be more honest
about my spiritual bottom line and more
effective in keeping it balanced?
***Lord, I thank You that Your grace
is enough to make up for the qualities I
lack. I am so spiritually poor without
You. Keep me strong through Your riches
in Jesus.
Don't feed
greed--satisfy your soul in God.
Links: (When avail. copy & paste into
your web browser)
