As the man walked away—willing to let go of Jesus so that he didn’t have to let go of his good things—Jesus turned to his disciples and said, “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).
I remember the garage sale of garage sales that I planned, organized and promoted. The big day came. After people came and went, 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 have a garage sale to get rid of stuff. Period.
A garage sale where things don’t sell stuff is one sign that you don’t own your stuff. Your stuff owns you. This is hard. Jesus says so. We just can’t always get it right. Money and possessions have their way of replacing our need for 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. 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. 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. Then he rose 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 your own ideas of life. Let go of riches. Don’t let go of Jesus. How is that possible? Because he doesn’t let go of you. “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).
PRAYER: Dear Jesus, I can’t do this. I can’t take care of all my stuff without it owning me. I need you. As you let go of riches, empower me to let go, too. As you hold onto me, help me hold onto you. Amen.
FURTHER MEDITATION: If you needed to prove to a friend that Jesus is more important to you than anything, what would you need to give away?
