“But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.” (Matthew 19:22)
God has so much to give. The storehouse of heaven is filled with abundant treasure. What stops the windows of heaven from being opened up to us? Fear of loss. God calls all those who would follow Him to first lose their own lives if they would gain life eternal. The more we have to lose, the more we shrink back from the cost of discipleship. This is why Jesus told His disciples it was hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matt. 19:23)
No man can serve two masters. We cannot serve God and mammon. The love of money is the root of all evil. God tests our hearts when He calls us to give. He would discover whether our trust in is Him or in “uncertain riches.” (1 Tim. 6:17) It is easy to claim that we believe in God; it is quite another thing to truly trust in Him. Do we believe that He can bring water out of rock and rain bread from heaven? Do we believe He can keep us alive in a time of famine? We may say we do, but He will test our faith by calling us to give of the very possessions we are counting on to “get us by.” “But, Lord – if I give this away, I won’t have enough for my needs!” The issue is: where is our trust? In ourselves? In the things we possess? Or is it truly in the living God who has promised to supply all our needs according to His riches in glory?
The great tragedy of the rich, young ruler was that in holding on to what he had, he lost what God would have given him. Jesus told all would-be followers to “count the cost.” Perhaps, instead of counting how much we have to lose of our treasure in this world, we should count how much heavenly treasure we will lose if we choose to fearfully control our own lives.
Don’t fear missing out on something of the world. Fear missing out on all God has for you.
“Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” (Hebrews 4:1)