Being Rich

Read This Week: Matthew 19

Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’” “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?” Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. – Matthew 19:16-26 NIV

In Matthew 19, we find a pretty famous story of the rich, young ruler. This account is a microcosm of a modern-day struggle. Struggles that we all have with personal pride, self-righteousness, and sufficiency. We do not have to conduct a deep examination of our hearts to see the similarities we share with the young man. Like him, our greatest challenge can be the desire to follow God our way while relying on our accomplishments to enter the kingdom of heaven. Removing this obstruction to true richness is why the Lord said this in verse 21:

“If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Jesus was making a statement to the disciples, the crowd, and to us today that the things of this world present the highest barriers to truly following and loving God. But it was not an indictment on wealth or possessions in and of themselves but a reflection of the heart’s posture toward those things. The teaching and true takeaway from this passage is not to place them above a relationship with Christ as the rich, young ruler did. Instead, the treasures in heaven should be valued or invested in with greater love, passion, energy, and pursuit than the treasures on earth. It is the one thing we often lack in life, yet it is the most important.

Our hearts are the issue, not our bank accounts. We are not broke financially as much as we are broke spiritually. Jesus is saying that when we are like the rich, young ruler, we are broken in our allegiance and devotion to the Lord. We are broke on faith and gratitude, broke on trust and healthy risk. We are broke on the stewardship of our resources and blessings. We are broke on confidence in a sovereign God who can take care of us. Our priorities and vision are broken, and therefore, our hearts can be misguided.

However, we do not have to stay broke. We can adopt a kingdom and eternal mindset that puts our hearts and eyes on the transcendent purposes of Christ. We can place our focus, not on the temporal things that will fade away, cause us to be fearful and greedy, and ultimately stand in the way of an intimate relationship with Jesus, but on the pursuit of God and his righteousness that lasts forever.

Of all the people who came to the feet of Jesus, the rich, young ruler was the only person who went away unchanged. That is why he went away sad. He failed to realize the most vital thing was not doing for God his way but being a passionate, pursuing child of God. He missed the greatest joy and fulfillment that we can experience on earth, and that is a vibrant, intimate relationship with Jesus. That is being truly rich. As Jesus said, with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Because of what Christ did on the cross, we do not have to earn a single penny or own a single thing to be rich.

6 Comments

  1. Alma on September 11, 2021 at 9:49 pm

    This week in Matthew Chapter 19, God gave me a song called, “Building a Relationship”:

    Building a relationship with our Lord
    Building a relationship with our Lord

    I am spending time throughout the day working on where God wants me to be
    Knowing I will succeed with his help

    I am a child of God building a relationship
    Getting closer as I spend time throughout the day

    He strengthens and gives me encouragement and fulfills my heart
    I am a child of God, a child of God who believes in my Father

    Building a relationship with our Lord
    Building a relationship with our Lord. Amen.

    I feel so blessed because every day when I wake up is a new day to spend with the Lord. It is a new day to start all over becoming closer and closer to our Father.

    • Jason on September 16, 2021 at 11:29 am

      I love this, Alma. Our worship and daily walk truly do take on a new dimension when we view it as an opportunity to continue, deepen, and further our relationship to Almighty God through Jesus. It is truly an inspiring and overwhelming truth that we get to commune and have an intimate connection to the God of the universe. It is a daily boost to know that we are, as you said:

      A child of God building a relationship
      Getting closer as I spend time throughout the day

  2. Jeri Centers on September 12, 2021 at 10:28 am

    God gave me this word from Matthew 19 verse 16:

    With a love everlasting and with goodness long-standing,
    That is the love, God has for you.
    That is your promise every day through.

    With love for all eternity and with kindness,
    That is the love that God wants you to know.
    That is the assurance He wants to show.

    God’s love for you is perfectly spotless.

    What that means to me is that God does not see one person as separate from others. It doesn’t matter if the deeds are small or great, to God every deed is the same.

    • Jason on September 16, 2021 at 11:54 am

      Another beautiful artistic expression from this passage, Jeri. I was so encouraged as I read this over and over. I am thankful, like you, for the love of God. I especially connected to these lines:

      With a love everlasting and with goodness long-standing,
      That is the love, God has for you.
      That is your promise every day through.

      Your poem reminded me of that great passage about the love of God in Romans 8:38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” What a promise indeed.

  3. Heidi on September 13, 2021 at 2:44 pm

    Matthew 19:25-26 in The Message Bible: The disciples were staggered. “Then who has any chance at all?” Jesus looked hard at them and said, “No chance at all if you think you can pull it off yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it.”

    Matthew 19:25-26 in the Amplified Bible: When the disciples heard this, they were completely astonished and bewildered, saying, “Then who can be saved [from the wrath of God]?” But Jesus looked at them and said, “With people [as far as it depends on them] it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

    God has blessed us all with the gift of salvation. Everyone will be invited to join the family of Father God. We all will be faced with situations in which we will be confronted with the necessity of personal choice, to choose God’s ways or not. When we choose His way, miracles happen. When we say I don’t know if I can do this, I want to believe, I want to live the way you want me to, miracles happen.

    All things are possible with God! We can’t do it without Him. The first step is asking Jesus to come into our hearts. The journey begins and continues as we trust Him to help us daily. I am so thankful to Father God for His love.

    • Jason on September 16, 2021 at 12:16 pm

      I love this, Heidi and as I read it, I had the tangible thought that Christians need to hear the gospel too and be reminded of God’s love for us through salvation in Jesus Christ. It is so good for believers to always remember who saved us, what we were saved from, and what a life with God after regeneration looks like.

      When I think about my own life and the lives of so many others who have come to faith in Christ, I feel the impact of Jesus’ words about the rich, young ruler – with God all things are possible.

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