Matt 19:16- 27
In the story of the rich man, Jesus presented the realities of the man’s life to him, revealing the genuine state of his heart.
Jesus’ response was not supposedly true to the question because as at that time he lacked sufficient explanation to give for eternal life.
The rich man inquired as to what he could do to obtain eternal life; nevertheless, Jesus’ prescriptions did not precisely address his question. Eternal life emerged from the life that Jesus gave us.
The rich young man’s encounter with Jesus challenges his understanding of wealth, status, and spirituality. Jesus’ instructions “Sell your possession and give the poor” forced him to confront the true nature of his heart.
The Bible stated, “He went sorrowful because he had great possessions.” At some point, you will come before the Lord, and He will reveal some aspects of your heart. Sometimes a man does not grasp the genuine state of his heart; the only thing that will expose that to us most of the time is when we have a dealing with the Lord, and such dealings will reveal such that you will be astonished by your actions, response, or attitude. Sometimes it is rage or impatience, and you don’t realize you still have the tendency to act or react in that manner. You must go through a crisis to determine the depth of your maturity and ability to bear. Something needs to reveal our tendency and reactions.
Let us agree that the man was sincere and came with good intentions to follow the Lord. And Jesus brought an aspect from his life which upset him.
What he came to ask was not close to Jesus’ response which meant Jesus was aware that there was an aspect of his life that needed to be addressed. So Jesus used the area he felt will bring out his true act, he told him to go and sell all what he has. He felt that this would bring out his genuine act; he instructed him to go sell everything he had and give it to the poor, and the Bible says he got unhappy and went away offended.
There are certain aspects of your life that, if not interfered with, will keep you and others around you safe. However, if that area of your life is touched or triggered, we may not feel secure around you.
You will not fully understand yourself unless there is a compromise. Moses perhaps did not know he still had a tendency to be that angry. God brings dealings our way for us to fully understand ourselves.
We will not reach the point where we think that every part of our lives have been addressed or that the Lord has completed his work in a manner that befit the vessel of the Lord.
One way you will learn is when God brings you into a situation that reveals the state of your heart, and you will be surprised at yourself.
Jesus’ instruction may look simple but it is not simple. The man began calculating what he had and how to sell them. He was told to sell all and not some. So
God has not taken control of that aspect of the man’s life.
Jesus is our Lord and Savior, but for some individuals he is only a savior and not yet Lord. God does not have authority over certain aspects of their life.
For this man, he is ready to follow Jesus but anything that will touch his purse, will hurt.
When the Lord places his hand on an aspect of our life, it indicates he wants to disclose that area to us because, as a result of that experience or interactions, the state of your heart will be revealed, and once revealed, it is an opportunity to approach the Lord for aid. Some of us lack patience, some are stingy. You may not know until the Lord places you in a position that will reveal it to you.
The rich man left without having an encounter, despite the fact that he appeared to be ready for Jesus to touch him. He appeared to be prepared; he arrived prepared; but, all of his preparedness vanished the moment his weakness was touched.
He came to ask for something unusual at the time: eternal life. Nobody talked about eternal life at the time. It’s possible he was getting a sense of what will happen following the resurrection.
He came as if he was prepared to hear, to receive, to know, to be helped and transformed because every genuine encounter must lead either to transformation, change of heart, healing, deliverance, alignment of heart, etc.
He came close to having that experience but was unable to complete the process. His encounter would have been a revelation of what he has in his heart, and he would be astonished to learn the consequence of the dealing, which would be that he has not completely bowed to God’s Lordship. His soul was corrupted and taken over by his possession. Encounters should be places of interaction that reveal the genuine soul was corrupt and possessed by his possession.
Encounters should be a place of dealings that brings out the true state of our heart.
When we come to sit at the Lord’s feet and hear his word, it is a heart discerner. As a result, God’s word has the ability to reveal you to yourself. It’s like a mirror.
People have walked out on opportunities, partnerships, potential investors, they have unresolved concerns that are manifesting themselves in the present.
No wonder David prayed this prayer “search my heart and if you find any wickedness in me lift me to the way of righteousness.”
Psalm 139: 23-24
Some have received Jesus as their Savior but not as their Lord. You need God to reveal yourself to you.
When we have dealings with the Lord, we would come to say; “the Lord dealt with us,” “the word of the Lord exposed our hearts,” and “the Spirit of truth came and we encountered Him.”
Encounters with Jesus are not abstract or superstitious things, they are tangible. Without such encounters our Christian knowledge cannot be solidified. It will always be head knowledge. The knowledge will not be fruitful.
We will only be learning and not coming to the knowledge of the truth. Such words may not change or transform. It may not help us become as good as we could be.
A man can be brought to a state of calm and peace by a deal that will contain his anxiety and fear.The man can indicate a time when anxiety and fear were eliminated from his life.
Certain things would have held our hearts and we would not know how far God has helped us.
We wouldn’t realize how God had helped our hearts conquer fear and anxiety. He created situations that revealed the state of our hearts. He reveals our immaturity and fear. He will occasionally sit us down, and his words will come to us. We may even have deadlines to meet and therefore lose sleep
Knowing that we have peace is insufficient. We cannot tell. Peace is not something we have experienced when everything is quiet.
Peace is known when trouble shows up. If trouble arises, we can be confident that we have learned to be at peace. We’ll suddenly realize there’s calm. Until we recognize that, we are either covering up or claiming that we have learned His peace and it is at work.
He brings us to a place of maturity. He uses situations and circumstances, as well as revelation from His word, to shape our life. It is about how we deal with His message and instructions, meditations, and whatever platforms He utilizes.
Worship can also help us connect with God. It could be the outcome of our hearts being melted, leaving us with a decision. Throughout the process, we gain strength.
At times it may be a verse from the scripture. The word from the Psalms in times of fear may be our encounters. The psalmist says, “He preserves my lot.”
This is why we cannot miss out. Even in such circumstances, we remain within Him because He maintains our lot.
We shouldn’t be quick to assume that an opportunity lost can never be regained. It is not scriptural. That’s human psychology. He is the God of All Chances. He is not the God of Second Chances. He constantly presents new opportunities.
The devil has polluted the minds of many in believing that God does not give chances all over again.
We should know He makes all things beautiful. This should bring us to a place of rest. Sometimes, we wonder how we are going to get things done and they are going to be sorted.
Many of us miss out on interactions because we refuse to allow something to form within us when certain dealings occur. We did not let the process and cycle to be completed.
We did not complete the process because we did not allow Him to perfect His work in us. The Lord is the one who brings forth perfection. He is Lord over our souls and over the affairs of our lives.
Do we believe a man can come to God and sacrifice everything he has and still be stranded?
Just as Abraham was instructed to offer his only child. The Lord said, “…now I know…” Abraham obeyed the instructions when he was commanded to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac. There was Ishmael, but the Lord instructed him to take Isaac.
He obeyed and brought everything they needed for the sacrifice to Mount Moriah. Isaac asked on their way to the mount where the lamb was, noticing the wood and knife. Abraham told him that “the Lord will provide for Himself.” God intervened just before Abraham was going to sacrifice Isaac. The God who instructed him was also the one who stopped him.
This narrative contains two lessons. Firstly, the Lord will undoubtedly provide.
Secondly, Abraham’s heart was revealed despite his awareness that he had waited a long time for Isaac and that Isaac could not replace God.
God was able to say, “Now I know…” The primary point to remember is that God was revealing His plan of redemption for humanity through this situation. Because the provision of the ram was a paradigm of the sacrificial Lamb, which became a ransom, God intended for Abraham to offer Isaac as a means of revealing the redemption plan.
Jesus came to become the sacrificial lamb. Abraham gave us a paradigm for how a man might arrive to the point where his heart is no longer in what he sought so much. A point at which God can truly be called Lord. Abraham demonstrated that it is possible for a man to give God control of his life. He had the option of hiding Isaac and trusting God to provide the lamb.
Consider this: what if Isaac had not submitted to his father? Would the father have clung to him?
Abraham passed the test, but Isaac passed with distinction when he asked his father where the lamb for the sacrifice was, and the father responded that the Lord would provide the sacrifice himself.
Isaac submitted in the same way Jesus did. Nails, beatings, and stones couldn’t kill Jesus. It explains why he actually succumbed to his father. Jesus has the ability to lay himself down and receive it. Isaac acted this out.
You don’t realize you love the Lord until your heart is X-rayed. Jesus demonstrated to us that he had genuinely submitted to the Father.
A reasonable question to raise at this point is what kind of orientation Isaac received before submitting himself to be slaughtered. Despite seeing the knife, he gave up. What amount of serenity and confidence had overcome their souls to the point where, under God, their hearts were disclosed in the face of that test? Abraham passed, Jesus did as well as Isaac.
In scriptures, not all men encountered Jesus and maximized those divine moments. Allow God to help your heart.
Get to the point where you cannot be readily provoked. Try not to fail such a test in order to avoid returning to class. Allow the father to perfect his image in you. The agenda that his image must be perfected in us, Christ being formed in us.
We unintentionally repeat classes, failing to grow because we did not let the father to perfect his image in us.
We did not allow the knowledge and revelation we had created to bear fruit in us. The test might take any form in order to reveal the image of Christ within you.
God uses those who find it hard to deal with as a tool to refine his nature in you; they act as catalysts to bring about the change.