Desire of My Heart

 

“Good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10:17 [NASB])

Jesus spoke to the rich man (the rich, young ruler) who sought to be closer to God. This wealthy man asked Him what he must do to inherit eternal life. Notice a couple things in this passage. The man recognized who Jesus is. Jesus recognized the desire in the man’s heart and what kept him from absolute surrender to God.

Jesus asked why he called Him good; only God is good. He noticed this man recognized God in Him. People who do good things or teach well are not inherently good. Goodness comes as a gift from God to those who are in a relationship with Him. For the rich man to call Jesus good meant He saw God in Him. This man saw Jesus’ relationship with the Father. A person can only have a relationship with holy God when he or she is holy. No person is holy innately. Each person sins and falls short of God’s glory, His holiness (Romans 3:23). God will not be around unrighteousness. Like darkness and light cannot exist in the same place, holiness and sin cannot exist in the same place. This rich man recognized Jesus’ holiness, His absolute goodness, which comes from being part of the triune Godhead. He called Him good.

Another thing we should notice is Jesus looked at the rich man, his external dress, which proclaimed his wealth, and his heart, which had kept God’s Ten Commandments. The man did everything he knew God wanted but still recognized he did not have the relationship with God his heart desired and was not innately good. Jesus understood these things about the rich man and recognized the one thing he had not given or acknowledged as coming from God, the gift God had given him, his wealth. Many people who have a gift from God forget they did not earn the benefits of that gift by themselves. God gave them the ability. For this rich man of Mark 10, God gave him the mind to create and steward wealth. This means God gave him the wealth since He gave him the ability to become wealthy and steward it wisely.  Jesus met the rich man at this point in his relationship with God. This rich young man had kept the Commandments. He sought God. The rich man strove to be closer to God. Yet, when Jesus explained the thing that kept him from his desired closeness to Him, the man hung his head in sorrow. He refused to give up his wealth to be closer to God. This rich man had not come to the place in his spiritual growth to recognize or be willing to recognize God gave and would continue to provide for him after he gave back to God what He had given him. God gave the rich man the gift of prosperity. The rich man held onto it as if he owned it since he thought he created it. He was unwilling to recognize his wealth came from God and, therefore, if God asked for its return, he should give it. The rich man was just the steward of God’s wealth for a time.

Jesus acknowledged the rich man saw Him correctly. He has a close relationship with the Father. This rich man recognized Jesus’ holiness and sought the answer to his heart’s desire - how he could have a closer relationship with God. Jesus commended the man. Then, He looked at the man and saw his heart. This rich man had followed the Ten Commandments given by God through Moses. Yet, he truly was not ready to have a relationship with God because He was unwilling to acknowledge from Whom his gifts came and to Whom they ultimately belonged.

Each of us at points in our lives seeks to be closer to God. The nature He put within us when He created us craves closeness with Him. As we seek this closeness, God helps us realize what may stand in our way of having this closeness with Him. Like Jesus, He shows and tells us what we need to give up to have a closer relationship with Him. For some people, God may ask they be willing to work among the homeless. For others, He may ask they give up some of their personal resources. Still others, God may them to join a Bible study or to believe in Jesus Christ for salvation. For every person, God asks we give back to Him the gifts He gives to us. These gifts could be the ability to make wealth, be athletic, be a scholar, be organized and a good planner, be a good woodworker, plumber, roofer, gardener, or do whatever is your gifting. Each of these are gifts from God. These gifts are a person’s wealth. Gifts often interfere in our having a close relationship with God. We want to keep them to ourselves because people identify us by these wonderful things we do and are. We like people to acknowledge we are good at something and give us praise and admiration. People’s applause for us is important to our psyche and ego. Until we can give everything to God that He gave us, wealth or any kind of acuity, we will not have a close relationship with Him. These gifts become an idol or god in our minds. The rich man did not want to give to God his personal wealth. He did not recognize it was already God’s, and he was just the steward. This man’s wealth kept him from the closer relationship with God that he wanted God does not give gifts for us to hoard for ourselves, but to serve a purpose in His plans, to bring Him glory, and to draw us and other people closer to Him.

What gift do you have that you refuse to part with so you can be closer to God? What are you hoarding instead of acknowledging as God’s and being His steward? Will you give back to Him for His purposes what He gave to you - wealth, skills, mental acuity, efficiency, organization skills, patience, joy, musical ability, athleticism, and the glory that comes from people because of these? Or, will you keep them for yourself and not refuse the close relationship with God that your heart, mind, and spirit desires? I need to give back to Him the gifts He gave me to use for His purposes (organization, efficiency, and planning skills) instead of allowing them to determine my day and what gets done. What about you?

“Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4 [NASB])

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21 [NASB])

Faith-Grown

These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world, you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world. John 16:33 [NASB]

After you have lived a while, you realize our greatest opportunities of growth and learning come through our experiences. If we read and learn, the lesson becomes head knowledge. Only when head knowledge is tested, can it become life knowledge and grow and strengthen us.

James expressed this same thing in James 1:2-3 when he said, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” [NASB] Paul taught similarly in Romans 5:3-5 when he said,

And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. [NASB]

These disciples of Jesus taught going through hard times produces growth, or rather, it can, depending on how we respond and react to the difficulties.

Jesus taught much about growing in a relationship with God and told His followers how they can endure hardships. In John 16:33, He spent some time walking with and teaching His disciples before Judas betrayed Him. He told them, “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation but take courage; I have overcome the world.” Jesus’ primary teaching about living through difficulties was to ask the Father for anything in His name (vs 23). Jesus’ followers can have peace, God’s heart peace, while facing difficulties because God will be with them and will help them. God doesn’t leave a person when times get tough. He stays with them, gives them the strength to get through trials, and grows the person to be a stronger believer in Jesus Christ. As a person takes each small step toward growing more Christlike, that person’s belief in God and His desire and ability to strengthen him or her in and through the trial grows. That person becomes stronger.

Consider Matthew 19:16-26 when the rich young ruler asked Jesus a question. This rich young man asked Jesus, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” (vs. 16) Jesus answered him by saying, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” (vs. 17) The man’s reply to Jesus was he had kept all the commandments. Then he asked, “What am I still lacking?” (vs. 20b) This rich young man thought doing good would give him eternal life. Jesus told him only One is good. He told the young man, if he wanted to be complete (fully grown as can only happen by God), not just good, then he must not rely on what he can do such as making money and buying himself things. The completeness of which Jesus spoke can come only by God when He makes a person fully grown through stages. These stages of gradual strengthening take a person to the end goal of being completely Christlike. This strengthening comes through trials and difficulties, daily Bible reading and study, and prayer and communion with God. The rich young man chose not to go through this trial. He kept the commandments instead of giving himself to God. We can note this from his reply to Jesus. Recall what Jesus told this rich young man after he said he kept the commandments. Jesus said, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come follow me.” (vs. 21) He, in essence, said stop relying on your own strength and plans, and rely on God instead. Give yourself to God totally and trust in Him. This rich young ruler heard Jesus’ statement, but went away grieving because he owned a lot of property. He didn’t want to give it up. This rich young ruler chose to rely on himself rather than follow God and trust Him for all his needs.

This moment in time was the rich young ruler’s chance to grow in his relationship with God. He could have gone from knowing about sins and Yahweh God to knowing God and being in a redeemed relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. This young man did not trust God to provide all things for him and so he did not grow in his faith. He wanted to be a follower of Jesus, but he didn’t rely on God’s strength and provision or his own learned understanding of I AM, the eternal One. At that moment in time, the rich young ruler could have come to know God personally through His Son, Jesus. He chose possessions over a relationship with God.

We each come to these places in our lives. Will we trust the God who created us and all things to take care of our needs? Will we trust Him enough to give us the strength to endure when we obey Him to go where He tells us to or do what He tells us to do? Will we believe what Jesus told Paul? In 2 Corinthians 12:9, Paul wrote saying, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”

Jesus gave the rich young ruler the opportunity to grow in his understanding of God and his relationship to Him. He encouraged him to step out in faith in God. Jesus gives each of us the opportunity to grow in our understanding and faith in God and to become more like Him. Each day we learn something and have the chance to trust God more, and to gain strength, endurance, and peace. Only you recognize what God is trying to teach you now. You understand of what God asks from you to learn that lesson fully and become even more like Christ.

Will you let go of your own understanding and grow in God?

Will you be home-grown or faith-grown?

Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.’ And He said, ‘Come!’ And Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. (Matthew 14:28-29 [NASB])

Lord, You have been patient with me. I don’t understand how you have that much patience waiting on me to trust you, but You do. You love me more than I realized. You are loving and gracious and keep calling me to follow You. Please forgive my doubts and lack of faith. Forgive my weaknesses and fears. Help me see and hear You only. Help me step out of my self-made boat and walk on the storm-tossed sea with You. Only by walking with You will I grow stronger. Lord, I want to be made complete and to have Your peace. I don’t want to be home-grown anymore. I want to be faith-grown by You. Please be patient with me. I love You.

Count My Life as Love for You

“For this is the love of (for) God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.” (1 John 5:3 [NASB])

At different times in our lives, we hear of someone who is making a “big splash” (a big impression) for God and see he or she is doing well in all areas of his or her life. At other times, we hear of someone doggedly following God day by day and he or she is making no huge splash, yet they keep following God. Doing well or merely surviving is not a result of one’s following God. Jesus never said, follow Me and I will make you rich, healthy, or famous all the time. He taught in the Sermon on the Mount God will provide all your needs. What Jesus taught was “follow Me and I will make you fishers of men”. (Matthew 4:19) What does it mean to be a “fisher of men?” Jesus and His disciples explain that to us.

In John 14:15, Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” This one statement sums up the Law to love the Lord God will all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. (Luke 10:27) Notice, the Law is summed up with love. God wants a relationship with each person. Love for God is shown by obeying His commandments. Jesus said this in John 14:15. John said it in 1 John 5:3 when he said, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome.” [NASB] He reiterated it in 2 John 1:6 when he said, “And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard it from the beginning, that you should walk in it.” [NASB]

Paul gives examples of it in his writings to the different congregations. Particularly, in his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul, while entreating the people to return to following Christ in the way he taught, emphasized to them the difference between what he taught and did and what the false teachers taught and did. In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul alluded to a “teacher” who “showed” he had great visions and revelations, and that caused people to follow him. He wrote about one “teacher” who exalted himself by pointing out he had no affliction (“thorn in the flesh”) so he “must be” a true teacher of God and, hence, Paul was not since he had a thorn in the flesh.

Paul’s reaction to these statements was multi-fold. He said God allowed him to have the thorn in the flesh to keep him from exalting himself (vs 7). Ouch, the other “teacher” would have said to that jab. Paul also reminded the Corinthian church he persevered in Corinth even with the thorn in the flesh. He did not just enter the city, gain fame, and then leave. He lingered there for months and taught the people. Paul performed signs and wonders and miracles, too, just as the other “teacher” did. In addition, Paul did not burden the people with a requirement that they support him as the other “teacher” did. He then stated, when he returned to Corinth a third time, again he would not burden them to support him.

As if these arguments were not enough, Paul gave climax to his argument for himself as a true apostle and teacher of the Lord as compared to the other “teacher.” He said in 1 Corinthians 12:15, “I will most gladly spend and be expended for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?” Paul said he went to and taught the people in Corinth because of his love for them. He willingly would give himself, so their souls would be saved. With verse nineteen, Paul explained why he would go to a people he did not know, stay with them teaching them at his own expense, and do this even though he had a burdensome “thorn in the flesh.” He said, “All this time you have been thinking that we are defending ourselves to you. Actually, it is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ, and all for your upbuilding, beloved.” Paul went to Corinth and spent himself and kept spending himself through prayers for and letters to them because of God. He did this ministry for and to the Corinthians in the sight of God, that is because of his love for God and his resultant love of lost people, of whom the Corinthians were. Paul showed his love for God through his obedience to Him to be a “fisher of men.” Paul obeyed Jesus’ teaching to love the Lord with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love his neighbor as himself.

Following the Lord, being His servant and obeying His commands, comes out of a natural outpouring of our love for and thanks to God for His marvelous grace and mercy shown to us through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus the Messiah. Our obedience to God is not evidenced only by tangible, visible blessings from God such as health, wealth, and fame. Our obedience to God can be seen most obviously by our following His commands to love Him and our neighbor so that all people may come to hear the gospel. God promises always to be with us and to take care of the needs of His children. God’s taking care of a person is not part of the equation of loving Him and others. Wealth or lack, health or sickness, fame or obscurity can happen to any of God’s children, but it is not an indicator of a person’s salvation or obedience to God. The true indicator of a person’s salvation is his or her spiritual fruit-love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, meekness, and self-control. The true indicator of a person’s love of God is his or her obedience to God, to love Him and people at the expense of him- or herself.

Paul knew what loving God at any expense meant. He had lived in wealth and poverty and learned to be content in whatever circumstances he found himself. (Philippians 4:11-13) A true child of God, one who loves Him with all He gives him or her, knows times of hardships will follow times of plenty and vis versa. Paul spoke about not receiving God’s grace in vain in 2 Corinthians 6:3-10. He said not living life in vain means:

Giving no cause for offense in anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited, but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God,

in much endurance,
in afflictions,
in hardships,
in distresses,
in beatings,
in imprisonments,
in tumults,
in labors,
in sleeplessness,
in hunger,
in purity,
in knowledge,
in patience,
in kindness,
in the Holy Spirit,
in genuine love,
in the word of truth,
in the power of God,
by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left,
by glory and dishonor,
by evil report and good report,
regarded as deceivers and yet true,
as unknown yet well-known,
as dying yet behold, we live,
as punished yet not put to death,
as sorrowful yet always rejoicing,
as poor yet making rich,
as having nothing yet possessing all things. [NASB]

Every person wants to avoid the first ten items on Paul’s list and have the next nine items. Yet, as Paul notes in the last nine items, we each will have the whole list if we are true followers of Jesus Christ, if we are in a saving relationship with God, and if we love the Lord with our whole being. With any of the three parts of this list, we can make a “splash” in the world, yet only when we love the Lord with our whole being will we make a big splash for God. Only then will we be fishers of men.

God will provide all you need. Will you let Him use you for what He wants?

Oh Lord, I have been so blinded by the ways of the world so that I rarely see you at work through people who are seemingly small in the world’s eyes. My looking at the world this way means I have become useless for You through my life; I have closed myself down to You. Lord, forgive me my short-sightedness, lack of understanding, and lack of growth. Fill me with Yourself anew and grow me to be more like You. Help me draw close to You again. Use me for Your will whether it means living in poverty or wealth, sickness or health, obscurity or fame. I am never poor, dying, or obscure in Your eyes. Your love for me is all that counts. Let my life count as love for You. Amen.