“How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! … 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 … With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God” (Mark 10:23-27).
Why do people host garage sales? Two possible answers:
- to get rid of stuff, or
- to make money
Personally, I’ve had to learn how hard this is. I remember the most recent garage sale that I planned and organized and promoted and the big day came. Afterwards, most of my stuff was still sitting in my garage.
My wife gently pointed out that I did it again. I priced things too high. That’s because my philosophy for garage sales was to make money, and if that’s what you want, it’ll never happen. You host a garage sale to get rid of stuff.
So a garage sale where things don’t sell is one sign that you don’t own your stuff, but your stuff owns you.
This is hard. Jesus says so. Actually, it is impossible. We just can’t always get it right. Money and possessions have their way of replacing our need for God.
Jesus calls us to this one thing—using our good things to serve him instead of using him to serve our good things—which we cannot do. But it is possible with God.
We’re just too big with all our stuff. We can’t fit through the door of his kingdom. It’s like a camel fitting through the eye of a needle. So Jesus comes through the door to us, from the other side. And it’s a very narrow, small door.
Keep in mind how big Jesus is—nothing else in all creation is bigger. Jesus is bigger than the mountains, the oceans, and the entire planet, for he created it. Jesus is bigger than the most powerful empires of the world, which crumble under the power and glory of his kingdom. Jesus is bigger than time, bigger than your problems, and bigger than sin and death. How could he fit through the eye of a needle?
Jesus became small. By giving up his bigness and beauty. By dying on the cross. By rising from the dead. What you cannot ever do by yourself, what is impossible, Jesus did for you. Let go of everything else. Let go of yourself. Let go of riches. Don’t let go of Jesus. How is that possible? Because he doesn’t let go of you.
PRAYER: Dear Jesus, thank you for my good things. Help me use them to serve you, instead of using you to serve them. Amen.
FURTHER MEDITATION: Spend 10 minutes with this verse, and answer this question: How can my faith help me be more content and free? “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’” (Hebrews 13:5).