Advantage - Heaven

Hi Friends, 

I thought it would be useful to share with you what God had put on my heart this morning, during my quiet time… 

The topic that I would be grazing on is “Giving to the Lord”. The vastness of this subject cannot be restricted to this short devotional, but I pray that you would search your heart to see what the Spirit says to you.

I have been studying the Gospel according to Matthew in recent days and this morning I landed on Chapter 19. In the 2 half of this chapter, we see Jesus in an encounter with a rich young ruler. The man seems to be seeking the things of God in a genuine way. He probably wanted some guidance from Jesus to see if he was on the right track. He asks Jesus, what he must do to inherit eternal life (That’s a great question to ask, I hope you’ll agree. Read Matt 6:33). Jesus gives him a flavour of the 10 Commandments, to which he replies that he has kept them all. Then, there comes the Dhoosra delivery from Jesus, where He asks the man to sell all his possessions & gift it to the poor & follow Him.  And the Bible records that the man walked away with sadness. The “message “translation captures this verse as, “That was the last thing that the young man expected to hear. And so, crest fallen, he walked away”.  (Note: The term “crestfallen “means “In low spirit”.) Jesus never wanted the man to go broke, neither was His intension to put the man in a spot. It was intended to test & to examine the young man’s heart. I’m sure, that statement of Jesus, must have lingered in the mind of that ruler for a long time. Friend, it is meant to check your heart and mine, today, 2000 years after that encounter had taken place.

Even as I was meditating on this passage, God put in my heart an urgent need to examine my intent & motives. I tried to put myself in the shoes of that young ruler, to see what my response would have been. What am I seeking for? Am I seeking God just to experience the favour, benefits & the blessings that he promises to me? I titled this note as Advantage – Heaven, taking a cue from the game of tennis, where a player is one point away from winning a game.

Today, we live in a world that is driven by the Q, “what is in it for me”. The scene is no different in the body of Christ. Our corporate “rat-race” culture has made deep inroads into our churches. We have this instant returns expectation from God. It has become extremely difficult for us to be patient & wait for answers to prayers. If that’s the case with earthly benefits, heavenly ones hardly excite today’s church. A life eternal in the presence of the Most High God is hardly sought after and as a result you hardly have preaching & proclamation on the 2^nd coming of God. “Crestfallen” is the behaviour of the church towards topics such as these. I am not saying that God never blesses His children here on earth, in fact I have experienced His blessing & favor in mindboggling measures. My intent is to see, how we would respond to that statement of Jesus in Matt 19: 21.

Would you play Advantage – Heaven or Advantage – World? You can’t hold on to “Deuce” for too long a time.