One day a rich young man came up to Jesus and asked him “What do I need to do to have eternal life”? Jesus thought about it and told him “Honor your mom and dad, don’t steal or murder, don’t lie, and love your neighbor”. The young man breathed a sigh of relief and responded that he had done all of that. “What’s left?” he asked. Jesus told him that if he wanted to really give it all he had, he should go sell everything he had and give it to the poor. “After you’ve done that, “ Jesus said, “then come and follow me.”That was the absolute last thing the rich young man expected to hear, and so broken hearted he walked away. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and he couldn’t bear to make the necessary adjustments. ( Matt 19: 16-22 The Message)
Adjustments are hard to make, but are necessary if you ever want to reach your fullest potential in Christ. I have to be honest and tell you, my biggest struggle is making the right adjustments in my life. I love my comfort zone. Like Burger King I want to have it MY WAY. And anything that challenges “MY WAY” is usually pushed aside.
Like that rich young man I have presented myself to God with pride and asked Him, what else do you want me to do? I’m saved, I pray, I read, I preach, I even play an instrument in church. On top of that, I pick up trash, greet visitors, shake hands, and attend church faithfully, and blah blah blah blah blah…..
After I finish my list, God responds, if you really want to give it your all, then (fill in the blank). And it is at that point in which I walk away broken hearted because I’m holding on to those things tightly and I can’t bear to make the necessary adjustments.
What about you? What are you holding on to? If we are ever going to experience God and go to the next level we have to make the right adjustments. It might hurt. It might even make you feel uncomfortable, but if you adjust your life to God’s word and his prompting, you will experience God like never before.
Think about the first time you drank, or smoked. It was nasty, gave you a headache, made your breath stink, and possibly sick. Yet in order to fit in you adjusted. You adjusted long enough to the point in which smoking no longer made you cough, and drinking no longer made you gag. We are constantly making adjustments in our life. It’s time to make the right adjustments so we can be all we can be for the Kingdom! I challenge you to faithfully pray and respond to God’s adjustment for your life. God Bless!
Pastor Zeke
I admire your honesty, sadly I too have noticed myself doing the same pushing aside using my own rationalizations to excuse my “comfort lust” and self exhalation. In some situations It can be confusing to discern precisely what the right adjustments even are for me, other times I know all too well! Thanks for bringing it up…I needed that!
Adjustment is precisely the thing that most Christians deal with. We want God’s best, but we aren’t willing to give our all. God will have nothing less than all of us. Jesus help us to make every adjustment that you reveal to us so that we can be all you planned in your heart for us to be.
I always feel like I am giving my all, until I ask God, “What else can I do?” He always has an answer that either makes my stomach turn or activates my selective hearing skills that I have perfected from childhood. The reality is, what we feel doesn’t mean a thing- it is not all about us. One time, in high school, a classmate of mine took a globe and passed it around my head saying, “THE WORLD… DOES NOT… REVOLVE… AROUND YOU.” I never forgot that. It is so easy to assume that our feelings on a particular subject are the meat and potatoes of any situation. In reality- our thoughts are barely the stain on the table cloth when compared to God’s master plan. No, the world does not revolve around us, but what do we allow to control our world?
The concept of heaven has never been a problem with most people. If everyone could continue to live like they do and go to heaven, we would not have enough churches for everyone. The problem is not getting people to want to go to heaven; it is getting people to make the necessary adjustments in their lives to get there.