rich young and miserable

by Pastor Jim Rovaggi

Mark 10:17-22 The Rich Young Man
17As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
18"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone. 19You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.20"Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy."
21Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
22At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.


Can't you just sense Jesus' frustration? Can you just imagine what Jesus was feeling when he said in verse 19 "...come on pal, you know what to do." And then the response... "Jesus, I did all that." Verse 21 makes you feel the pity and compassion Jesus must have felt...."Jesus looked at him and loved him." I can just see Jesus saying "Son, I know you did all that. I know you you're well churched and you know all this stuff.... but you're missing the point." I wonder today how many of us are in the same boat. We've done the church thing for what seems an eternity ... we sing in the choir, we tithe ten percent of our income, we baked for the bake sale, we humored that sister that everyone else seems to avoid. In a nut shell we have "kept all the commandments" but I believe Jesus is still saying ... "You have not given me your all. You have not sacrificed those things that are more important to you than me. Therefore you can't truly follow me." I don't know what sacrifices you need to make today in order to be able to truly follow Jesus. Maybe it's wealth. Maybe it's "personal time". It may be that you’ll work your fingers to the bone to keep up with the Jones’ but that leaves precious little time and energy left to serve the church or serve brothers and sisters who need you. Maybe it's a relationship that we need to sacrifice. Maybe it's your will that you need to relinquish because it simply doesn't match God's. You get the idea fill in the blanks. The scripture says that young man went away sad because he wasn't willing to sacrifice his wealth. Well guess what yall! It still works that way! If I'm not willing to sacrifice what God is asking me to sacrifice, I can never be truly happy in Him. Many Christians today have "gone away sad". They find themselves in a "spiritual holding pattern". And many of us have a dilemna. We don't even know what to sacrifice! Well, I'll tell you exactly how to find out what God wants you to sacrifice. Are you ready? Because this is deep. Lord, what do want to me to sacrifice? That’s the question! This is so prophetic you better sit down. Are you sitting? How about now? OK. Here it is again. The secret to finding out exactly what God would have us sacrifice is: (it would add to the effect if at this point you would kindly play a little drum roll in your head.) Ask Him!

Deep huh? Some of you are thinking, “Ask Him what?” Read the last section again. Now just in case you actually just blurted out, "OK Lord, what do want me to sacrifice?" You now have to listen for the answer. What's the best way to listen? “Is he going to talk about reading my bible AGAIN!?" Yup. I most certainly am.

I leave you with a homework assignment. I’d like us to practice sacrifice. Not only do we need to ask God what does he want us to sacrifice ... but I'm going to ask us to sacrifice a few minutes EVERY single day to read the word and pray. Now before you think to yourself, "How elementary! How insulting! The sad truth, I assure you, is that most people reading this e-votional are not reading the word EVERY day. If you are that rare and disciplined bird that does read the word and pray EACH day, than step it up a notch! Challenge yourself to read and pray a little more! I want to encourage you today. Sometimes we feel like all the people around us can barely stand the sight of us. Encouraged yet? Here is what I want you to remember. When Jesus looks at you, He feels nothing but warm fuzzies. He doesn't care if you goofed. He's not looking to chastise you at every turn. Don't misunderstand, our sin does indeed offend and hurt Him and in an unrepentant state it will separate us from Him, but our sincere consistent repentance makes it all better. What He desires, is that we permanently trade in all the idols we have built for ourselves, so we can truly follow Him. Do you realize, He doesn't even care if you didn't shower today! He loves you anyway! Will you spend some time with Him? Promise? ...good.

God Bless You! ...And may He make us blessable!

Pastor Jimmy E. Rovaggi
Associate Pastor
West Hudson Christian Center
557 Kearny Avenue Kearny, NJ 07032
p 201-997-7762
c-973-600-8544