Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Luke 18:18-25
And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” (ESV)
by Paula Davis
If only Adam and Eve had realized before they ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge what price they would have to pay afterwards. Of course God already knew they would be disobedient and that the free will he created in them would turn out to cost them the most beautiful and perfect place on earth. But they didn’t know. Sometimes I think it would be better if people didn’t know the price they might have to pay for accepting God’s free gift of salvation because as humans we tend to look at the temporal more strongly than we do the eternal. People who reject Christ also do so because they don’t want to give up what they have on earth because they cannot see beyond this life. It is our job to help them see beyond and to realize that any earthly price they pay pales in comparison to the glory that awaits God’s children some day.
Copyright Information
Daily Bible Meditations are taken from The Helping Hand,a Sabbath School student quarterly for youth and adults. Copyright © 2008, Seventh Day Baptist Board of Christian Education, Inc.
Scripture quotations marked "ESV" are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Text provided by the Crossway Bibles Web Service .
