Missed Opportunity
I remember back when I was in high school and trying to decide where to go to college. I was pretty set on Westmont, and didn't even apply to other schools. Then one day I got a call from a recruiter. They wanted me to come to their school on the east coast and learn to be a nuclear physicist. I didn't want to be a nuclear physicist or go to the east coast so I turned them down. I loved my time at Westmont and I believe I made the right choice, but I sometimes wonder how my life would be different if I had said yes.
That brings us to the story of the rich young ruler in Matthew 19:16-30.
The words and deeds of Jesus had been getting around and this man approached Jesus with a few questions he had. He considered himself a pretty good person and wondered what else he could be doing. Jesus told him what He tells lots of people. "Follow Me." More specifically, He told him to sell all his things and then follow Jesus. The man couldn't do it because he was wealthy, and he was too attached to his possessions.
This story always makes me sad. What would have happened in that man's life if he had said yes? Reading ahead in Matthew we see the things that Jesus still has yet to do. Jesus heals the blind, enters Jerusalem triumphantly on what becomes known as Palm Sunday, He overturns the tables of the money changers in the temple, He has the last supper with his disciples, and His whole death and resurrection. There's a lot the rich young ruler missed out on because he said no to following Jesus. However the most important thing he missed out on was Jesus himself.
Can you imagine spending each day walking and listening and talking and fishing and eating and serving with Jesus? What is that worth compared to a few possessions?
I understand that the theory of this is different than the reality of this, and people always give me the same look when I tell them I'm selling all my things and moving to Ohio because that's where Jesus has called me. "Ohio? You realize California is better don't you?" "In January? You realize snow is cold, right?" "You're quitting your job, and selling your car? You realize that you could just keep those things and then acquire even more things in addition to those things, right?" "You're leaving your family? You realize you're going to miss out on stuff, right?"
I understand. I get it. I love the mountains and weather of California. I love the stability of just going to work each day and earning a paycheck. And most of all I love my family.
But God is greater, and this is not the first time I've done something like this. So not only do I have the Bible as an example, but I have my own life as an example of what happens when you choose to follow God. God will take you places you couldn't imagine, and grow you in ways that are hard to describe.
I've lived in Cluj, Romania for a year serving and praying for the city. I've seen strip clubs take down their billboards and replace them with pictures of smiling families because sin is no longer profitable. I've seen metaphorical bread and fish multiplied when finances were running low and a small offering basket among poor missionaries somehow comes up with thousands of dollars. I've ministered to a leper colony in India and walked through the Taj Mahal. I've stood on the front lines of spiritual warfare and seen a school I served at in India burned to the ground because we were talking about Jesus. I've done construction on an orphanage in Haiti and played with some kids that more than anything just need some love in their life.
What does God have for me in Ohio? I have no idea, but I do know that I choose to follow Jesus no matter where He calls me.
God is bigger.
That brings us to the story of the rich young ruler in Matthew 19:16-30.
The words and deeds of Jesus had been getting around and this man approached Jesus with a few questions he had. He considered himself a pretty good person and wondered what else he could be doing. Jesus told him what He tells lots of people. "Follow Me." More specifically, He told him to sell all his things and then follow Jesus. The man couldn't do it because he was wealthy, and he was too attached to his possessions.
This story always makes me sad. What would have happened in that man's life if he had said yes? Reading ahead in Matthew we see the things that Jesus still has yet to do. Jesus heals the blind, enters Jerusalem triumphantly on what becomes known as Palm Sunday, He overturns the tables of the money changers in the temple, He has the last supper with his disciples, and His whole death and resurrection. There's a lot the rich young ruler missed out on because he said no to following Jesus. However the most important thing he missed out on was Jesus himself.
Can you imagine spending each day walking and listening and talking and fishing and eating and serving with Jesus? What is that worth compared to a few possessions?
I understand that the theory of this is different than the reality of this, and people always give me the same look when I tell them I'm selling all my things and moving to Ohio because that's where Jesus has called me. "Ohio? You realize California is better don't you?" "In January? You realize snow is cold, right?" "You're quitting your job, and selling your car? You realize that you could just keep those things and then acquire even more things in addition to those things, right?" "You're leaving your family? You realize you're going to miss out on stuff, right?"
I understand. I get it. I love the mountains and weather of California. I love the stability of just going to work each day and earning a paycheck. And most of all I love my family.
But God is greater, and this is not the first time I've done something like this. So not only do I have the Bible as an example, but I have my own life as an example of what happens when you choose to follow God. God will take you places you couldn't imagine, and grow you in ways that are hard to describe.
I've lived in Cluj, Romania for a year serving and praying for the city. I've seen strip clubs take down their billboards and replace them with pictures of smiling families because sin is no longer profitable. I've seen metaphorical bread and fish multiplied when finances were running low and a small offering basket among poor missionaries somehow comes up with thousands of dollars. I've ministered to a leper colony in India and walked through the Taj Mahal. I've stood on the front lines of spiritual warfare and seen a school I served at in India burned to the ground because we were talking about Jesus. I've done construction on an orphanage in Haiti and played with some kids that more than anything just need some love in their life.
What does God have for me in Ohio? I have no idea, but I do know that I choose to follow Jesus no matter where He calls me.
God is bigger.
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