The Rich and the Kingdom of God
16 Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”
18 “Which ones?” he inquired.
Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”
20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”
26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
27 Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”
28 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.
Now for the questions:
7.) As disciples we live for something more than immediate happiness. We live for a transcendent (greater) purpose. In what ways might that be attractive to folks living under American secularism? (or "secular Americanism"; as far as I'm concerned, they're both describing the same thing)
They see us doing things: preaching the Gospel, living the Gospel, persevering when times are hard, making connections with others, standing up for what we believe is right, but also working to listen empathically and change lives in the context of relationship. When we choose to live for this greater purpose, we're not settling, and we're not coasting. We're always seeking and pursuing something greater, and because God is driving our lives (once we truly let Him) our pursuits will not be in vain. And I suspect that it is that above all things which is attractive to those settling for a lifetime of comfort and security.
8.) Discipleship can be difficult and overwhelming if we look at it all as a whole. But really, day to day, it's a slow process. One missionary described discipleship as doing "the next good thing." ...discipleship will simply be a matter of being obedient to take each small step that the Holy Spirit brings to mind. What might be the next good thing for you this week?
One of the support meetings I used to go to had a saying (alongside "one day at a time"): "what is the next right thing?" In the context of this meeting it was usually reaching out to one's inner circle, one's group of closest friends who one can feel safe to share what is really going on, right now in this very moment. Because usually one's first impulse is to be alone with whatever one is struggling with. It's one way folks continue with their struggle or sin pattern.
But it is clear that that question also applies on the positive, the "next step of faith", in faith. (Now, that doesn't mean being reckless or acting on impulse: "it's not what I would usually do, so it must be God!" No. I've done that; it just put me in a ball of anxiety anytime I did that. That in itself usually is a giveaway that it's not Him.) Over the last week-and-a-half, my next right thing in terms of stepping out in faith was to get on the job search, and I've done that. Professionally, my next steps in terms of moving forward are as follows:
1.) Keep finding other employment agencies, and make connections.
2.) Land interviews with these agencies.
3.) Develop and maintain my expectations of pay, schedule, length of assignment minimum, and minimum lead time between learning of assignment and start date.
In terms of my spiritual discipline, one next right thing is to decide what breaking my fast will look like in July. The other thing is to determine how I will continue with greatly reducing internet time as it has been a major revelation for me. It will include me downloading some sort of app to block certain websites so I don't become addicted to them. (I mentioned this in my post yesterday.)