Why?

November 14

Why should anyone in his right mind want to turn his back upon the good things of life? Why should anyone in his right mind prefer the life of spiritual prosperity to temporal plenty? That is a perplexing question. When the ‘rich ruler’ was confronted with this choice (Luke 18:18-23), he could not bring himself to deny his wealth to embrace Christ.

Many of us hold fast to things that we know separate us from the Lord. Oh, we may not be ‘exceeding wealthy’ as was the man Luke describes, but we do have our ‘things’ that we cherish. Perhaps it is prestige. Perhaps it’s an individual who has captured our imagination. Perhaps it’s the very carnal desire for self-realization in all its forms.

We know we need a Savior. We know Jesus came to deliver us from sin. But we don’t want to be delivered just yet. We want to ‘find our self.’ We want to realize our potential. We want to possess our dream. We want to have temporal life to the fullest—yet we want Jesus, too. How can we overcome this internal conflict? How can we reconcile the fervent desires of our humanity with our yearning for the eternal?

First, we must grasp the reality that, “Through Jesus Christ, the law of the Spirit of life has set me free from the law of sin and death,” Romans 8:2. Because I’m dead to sin, I am free of its compulsions. And second, we must realize, “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing; My words are spirit and life,” John 6:63. Once we choose to embrace Jesus who is life, the Holy Spirit gives us the power to relinquish all else.