"The Rich Ruler's Response"
Luke 18:18-25
This leader sought reassurance, some way of knowing for sure that he had eternal life. He wanted Jesus to measure and grade his qualifications, or to give him some task he could do to assure his own immortality. So Jesus gave him a task-the one thing the rich man knew he could not do. "Then who in the world can be saved?" the bystanders asked. "No one can, by his or her own achievements," Jesus' answer implied. "What is impossible from a human perspective is possible with God." Salvation cannot be earned-it is God's gift.
This man's wealth made his life comfortable and gave him power and prestige. When Jesus told him to sell everything he owned, Jesus was touching the very base of his security and identity. The man did not understand that he would be even more secure if he followed Jesus than he was with all his wealth. Jesus does not ask believers to sell everything they have, although this may be his will for some. He does ask us all, however, to get rid of anything that has become more important in our life than God. If your possessions take first place in your life, it would be better for you to get rid of them.
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"Accumulation of wealth at one pole is...at the same time accumulation of misery, agony of toil, slavery, ignorance, brutality, mental degradation, at the other pole." - Karl Marx
BLACK HISTORY TRIVIA:
Although DeShawna Davis was the first to answer with "The Measure of a Man", Marian Webb is also the winner for adding in that this is the second autobiography Poitier wrote. Here is today's question: Eunice Kathleen Waymon was born on this day in 1933. Give the stage name by which she is better known and the state in which she was born.
Posted By: Alban Burney
Thursday, February 21st 2008 at 5:51AM
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