I have recently evaluated my own walk with God and I still found many aspects which I think I'm not following God right. Perhaps the greatest is in the area of aligning to God as my first and ONLY priority in life, because there are so many things I hold 'dear' to and am not willing to let go. (although I'm struggling in faith, God reminds me that it is only through times of struggle that we really grow. and I want to grow deeper in Him)
Recently, I'm reminded by God of this verse in:
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Mat 19:16-30 (New International Version)
The Rich Young Man
Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?" "Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments." "Which ones?" the man inquired.
Jesus replied, " 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself."
"All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"
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."
When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then can be saved?"Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
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In this scenario, we have a young man (a parallel in Luke refers to him as a ruler/rich man). He is very successful by man's standards, with alot of wealth and on top of that, he is a follower of the Law of God (where he said that he abided and kept the law). But yet, when Jesus asked him to let go of all his possessions to follow Him, the man left feeling very sad.
Why did the man think this way? I really can understand because God is telling me the same thing. Am I willing to give up all my possesions and trust in Him and follow Him? Does not all that we have come from God in the first place? How did the things God gave us then overtook His place in our hearts that we are not able to let go to follow him?
Even the disciples were baffled. They were stumped. A rich ruler, fully righteous by religious standards. Even such a person could not enter heaven and so they asked:"Who then can be saved?" But, Jesus did not leave it all to doubt. He said something crucial: " With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
Yes I do feel frustrated with myself many times that I still cannot change over my bad habits at times, sometimes stagnated in faith, but yet, change by my own efforts will be fruitless unless I follow God.
Am I following God? Can I leave all things behind to follow Him? Salvation is free, but to walk with Jesus, there is a price to pay:
37"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Mat 10:37-39
Here, Jesus was not telling us that our parents are not important, nor that our children are not important, but was weighing the priorities of where we place Him, the Maker of heaven and Earth in our lives. If anything else can displace God at the first place, probably we never really understood what It meant to follow Christ and to let him be the LORD of our lives.
I see my cross. Yet carrying it is not easy and I flinch many times trying to carry it by my own strength. By my own it's impossible but with God I can.
No wonder God's 2 greatest commandments were:
1) Love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your Might and all your strength
2) Love your neighbours (family, frens, people you dunno) as yourself
When you first align your heart to God, He will make the relationship with men come. I will follow Jesus, and I will try not to just leave it in words nor by my mouth but in carrying my cross. Lord Jesus! Here I come!