A religious leader asked Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I
do to get eternal life?” But the leader said, “I have obeyed all these commands
since I was a boy.” When Jesus heard this, he said to the leader, “But there is
still one thing you need to do. Sell everything you have and give the money to
those who are poor. You will have riches in heaven. Then come and follow me.” Luke
18:18, 21-22
It had been over six weeks of running a fever with two of
those weeks in the hospital, and I was not getting any better. I had blood drawn every time my fever would
rise which was several times a day. When
there were no places left to stick I was given a central line. I had a spinal
tap, x-rays, cat scans and a myriad of other tests to no avail as to what was
making me sick.
I continued to deteriorate, and my vitals were unstable. I
was placed in the ICU. The doctor was perplexed as to what was slowly killing
me. He had already asked me several times, “Are you sure you are not on any new
medications?” I had already said no, and
then he modified the question, “Were any of your dosages changed?” And suddenly I remembered yes, one of my
heart medications had been increased. I could see the expression on the
doctor’s face change. He took me off that particular medication, and almost
immediately, I improved.
Amazingly, one small thing can make such a big difference.
In the scriptures above, a wealthy man came to Jesus asking how he could
inherit eternal life. He was already a very good man, in fact he was a
religious leader. He had obeyed all the commandments since he was young. He
hadn’t committed adultery, murder, lying or robbery. He had honored his
parents. But then, there it was, that (one little thing), and Jesus knew already
what it was… Money! He was very wealthy,
and parting with his money would be problematic. That was the one and only thing that kept him
from fully giving his life to God.
I had just one little pill that was killing me physically,
and this wealthy man had one thing that was killing him spiritually. When I
discontinued the pill, I got well. When we remove that one thing that comes
between us and God, we are healed spiritually. It is a shame to let one thing
keep us from the gift of salvation which God has provided by His Son. Don’t let
that one thing, separate you for an eternity, from the love of God, through
Christ Jesus.
Dear God,
Thank you for loving me unconditionally. Help me to give up any vice that causes a
wedge between you and me.
In Your Name,
Amen
Comments
Post a Comment