Thought of the Day !!

    Once a religious leader asked Jesus this question: "Good Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?"

    "Why do you call me good?" Jesus asked him. "Only God is truly good. But to answer your question, you know the commandments: 'You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. Honor your father and mother.'

    The man replied, "I've obeyed all these commandments since I was young."

    When Jesus heard his answer, he said, "There is still one thing you haven't done. Sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

    But when the man heard this he became very sad, for he was very rich.

                                      Luke 18:18-23 (NLT)

The problem with the rich leader is not that he has wealth, but that the wealth is so important to him.  Jesus has told us to take up our cross and deny ourselves.  He speaks openly about humility and serving as opposed to being proud of what we've got.  Wealth is not a problem, but if it's just too hard to give up what we have to help someone else, then what we have is coming between us and God.  

The same can be said about our time.  If we decide that we're going to spend the bulk of our time doing something that we love there is no problem.  But if we cannot give this up so that we can serve God, then it's become a hindrance.  You can say this about anything that might come between us and God's calling on our lives.  

The question is, "What do we have that we could not do without if God so desired it?"  Is there anything coming between you and God because it's become more important than God in your life?

In the love of Christ,

greg