Citizens of God's Kingdom - 4

The fourth passage involves a rich, young ruler. He asks Jesus how a person can attain to God's kingdom. Jesus told him to obey what God said. And he responded that he did obey what God said.

Jesus told him there was one more thing: give what he had to the poor, and follow Jesus. And the man was unable to do this. His possessions controlled his life.

Basically, there should be only one thing that controls us. And this young gentleman was controlled by his image, and his lifestyle.

Jesus' basic message was: there is only one person, who is worth our personal allegiance. Today, we see many things that people give their allegiance to. Politics. So, cial issues. Cultural pursuits. These things may not be necessarily wrong in themselves. God may even want his family to pursue these things on his behalf. But these things need to be given the right priority, the right attention, and the right value. 

There are people who have studied God's word -- and that's good -- and grabbed onto certain truths. Conclusions have been drawn. Extrapolations made. And systems built.

I do not think that someone believing, that a particular system is the correct system, is wrong, or dishonoring God. We are urged to walk by faith, and our convictions. But this will mean that in God's family, there will be some disagreement. Trouble comes when people from one system disobey God in regards people from another system.

Jesus said the most important command is to love God. And we love God by keeping his commands. The next most important command is to love people. To obey the first command, we need to obey the second command.

Disagreeing about systems is one thing. To lack patience, kindness, and to hold someone in low regard, because of that disagreement, disobeys, and dishonors, God. Jesus loved, and died, for those people, as much as he did for people in systems, we agree with. The Holy Spirit is working to teach, and transform, all of his family. And God is working to achieve one understanding, and one perspective, of who he is, and who he needs us to be.

So, we need to grasp onto some things tightly, and loosely on others. Or we run the risk of being like the rich, young ruler. Holding onto things we should not be holding onto.