Would You Give Up Everything?

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“If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions (Matthew 19:21-22).

Have you ever given any thought as to why Jesus tells us to give up everything to follow Him?

I’ve noticed that not too many Christians actually do this. They say they follow Jesus but they do not give up everything to follow Him. They still hang on to their “stuff” – iPads, iPods, iPhones, Xbox, Lexuses, 3000 square foot houses, yearly trips to the Caribbean, super mega-pixel HDTVs and on and on.

I don’t believe there is anything inherently evil with any of these things. That’s not my point.

My point is a question – one that I ask you and one that I need to find an answer for myself – are you willing to give up all of those things to follow Jesus?

Why did Jesus tell the young man in Matthew 19 to do that? I think the answer is found in the young man’s reaction. He chooses to not follow Jesus because he had “great possessions.” I suppose that could be read a couple of ways. “Great” as in many. Or “great” as in pretty cool stuff.

Why in the world would Jesus do this? Doesn’t Jesus know that He’ll get more followers if He doesn’t put these kinds of restrictions on people? Why would Jesus take such an awful chance of pushing someone away from Him?

I think that Jesus knew exactly what He was doing with this young man. The young man’s possessions were too great – they would get in the way of truly being a follower of Jesus. Jesus must have figured out that if He were to allow this young man to follow Him and keep all or even some of his “great possessions” that there would always be the chance that he would choose to rely on those possessions and not on Jesus.

“Jesus can’t be your all until all you have is Jesus.” – source unknown.

There comes a point – a crucial point – in the lives of everyone who hears the call of Jesus. Will you truly be willing to give up everything to follow Him or not?