Nothing you have Qualifies you
By Adesugba Tayo
Devotional Reading: “Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.” — Matthew 19:21 KJV
From the text above,Jesus told the young man to sell all that he had and give it to the poor, then come follow Him after that.
For long I had really wondered why Jesus would say that. Was it that riches was a problem because even His disciples got worried. My concerns were if Jesus is anti-wealth because we know clearly that even the Gospel needs massive funding too. God can’t be against His children being wealthy.
It dawned on me the issue was the trust in His wealth. The record says He was sad when He heard what Jesus said because He had great wealth. What Jesus said was that He lacked one thing. His reaction showed what He really lacked. It wasn’t the riches Jesus had problem with. It was where the heart of this man was. He seemed to love God but His heart was elsewhere (his wealth).
It wasn’t a matter of the wealth. Jesus was saying, not what you do or have can qualify you for God’s mercy except by absolute trust in him.
In other words, God simply picked what was hard for him to let go to see how much of trust in God He had. He was making this young man see the place of absolute surrender, yielding it all in faith and not resting on his own understanding. Absolute trust in God to be saved.
Prayer and Confession
Jesus, help me to trust you only and not what I have.
Further Reading: Matthew 19:16-22, Acts 4:12, Ephesians 2:6-8
