“And
behold, one came and said unto Him, ‘Good Master, what good thing shall I do,
that I may have eternal life?’ And He said unto him, ‘Why callest thou Me good?
There is none good but One, that is, God. But if thou wilt enter into Life,
keep the commandments.’ He said unto Him, ‘Which?’ Jesus said, “‘Thou shalt do
no murder; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not
bear false witness;honor
thy father and thy mother; and, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’” The
young man said unto Him, ‘All these things have I kept from my youth up. What
lack I yet?’” (Matthew 19:16-20, KJ21)
We
understand in giving precedence to certain aspects or values of our lives, we
order our lives regarding importance to one aspect or value above another. We must do this on a regular basis to have
any semblance of order of functioning in our daily living and we must do this
with what we value. We also must give
priority in our lives to our most important intimate relationships with spouses,
family or friends lest other endless demands with began to dominate our time, taking
away devotion and commitment to ones we love.
It seems logical as well that if we claim to be people of faith, then
faith must be value that is regarded as a priority in the highest degree.
Yet
giving something priority in our lives involves more than just speaking of it or
listing it as a priority. Claiming
anything as a significant priority involves more than words. Even willingness to invest dedicated time and
effort into any given priority does make it a reality as a high precedent in
your living.
Other
things must be released in order for spoken or claimed priorities to become
realities in our lives. It is in the releasing of the demanding insignificant things
that the significant is ordered and elevated to the place of highest significance. Values are just token phrases unless they
upheld by principled and intentioned actions. Faith without the releasing
actions of loving, serving and worshipping is empty. Still there is something beyond
the adhering to our priorities and the releasing of interferences and demands by
our actions. In the highest place of
order, regard and priority, a certain exclusiveness must not only be a priority
followed by the releasing all other things from any interference.
In
marriage, our exclusiveness to our spouses is not just priority borne out in
our releasing of all to the one that we love … it is exclusive abandonment of
all others and an exclusive attaching to our spouse. In our faith, it is not
just a setting of priorities that matters or even the releasing of time and
effort that makes good our faith. There
must be an exclusive abandonment of everything else and an exclusive attachment
above everything else, in order for Jesus Christ to truly be our Savior and our
Lord. That exclusiveness is what the “Rich
Young Ruler” missed in forgoing becoming a follower of Jesus Christ and that exclusiveness
is essential in our following Him above all others.
“Jesus
said unto him, ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell what thou hast and give to
the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven; and come and follow Me.’ But
when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great
possessions.” (Matthew 19:21-22, KJ21)
Suggested
Reading … Matthew 19
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