Living in the Spirit
October 10, 2015

Scripture Reading: Mark 10:17-31

As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: “You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.” ’ He said to him, ‘Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.’ Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. –Mark 10:17-22

Paul gives encouragement to the churches in Rome who faced grave consequences for their faith by saying: Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (Romans 8:35) We all tend to turn to God when we face difficulties but how much do we value the love of God in the good times? The scene in the story of our scripture above testifies to the fact that Jesus loved the man who had sought him out, but Jesus must have had some question about the man’s willingness to place God at the top of his list of priorities. He could not part with his riches.

I fear this country is suffering from an epidemic of greed that, if not squelched will be its undoing. Our politics and thus are government has come ever more under the influence of wealth. We have interpreted the abundant life of which Jesus talked as meaning financial prosperity, the ability to accumulate things rather than the richness of relationships. I was sickened just yesterday as I heard about the sex trade industry flourishing with parents even selling their own children not just in third world countries but right here in the USA. The speaker I was hearing said the average age of children caught up in the sex trade industry was five years old. This exists because people who have the money are willing to pay a high price to satisfy their lust. They are as pathetic and in need of God’s saving grace as the children they harm.

We each much search our own lives to see what idols we are worshipping that are separating us from God and with God’s help rid ourselves of them. We also have a responsibility to assure that innocents are not being offered on the altars of false idols.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we let anything come between us and you. Empower us to be protectors of the innocents caught in the fangs of greed. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.