Will Jesus Negotiate with You?
SEPTEMBER 17
“…And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” This is the first commandment. Mark 12:30
Jesus called for a decision from the rich young ruler, but he made a disastrous decision.
Jesus didn’t lower the standards of the Kingdom of God in order to get him. He didn't say, “Well, that's all right, come on back. We’ll talk it over—let’s negotiate this thing.” No, Jesus let him go. The young man had another god in his life. His god was gold. He worshipped money more than the Master.
There's nothing wrong with having money, but his money had him. It meant more to him than Jesus Christ.
We’re not saved by keeping the Ten Commandments or supporting the poor, as good as those things are. As believers in Christ we should do them. But good works or not, if you love anything or anybody more than Jesus Christ, you're not saved. “Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’” (Matthew 22:37; Deuteronomy 6:5)
Is Jesus truly Lord of your life? God will never be a moonlighting deity with a duplex for a throne. He must be Lord of all if He's to be Lord at all. Jesus knew this man had enthroned an idol in his heart and wasn’t even aware of it. He was thinking, “When the Bible says ‘Thou shalt have no other gods before me,’ I've never had any!” But he did.
Do you sit in church on Sunday morning, listen to a sermon, and think you've done God a favor? Examine your own heart. Make certain there are no other gods sitting on the throne there.
For more from Love Worth Finding and Pastor Adrian Rogers, please visit www.lwf.org.
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