Sellling Out

When one makes a list of difficult passages of Scripture, most will include Luke 18:22- When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”   If it difficult because many will follow such a statement with a question:  Do you really have to sell everything you've got to follow Jesus?  We need to keep a couple of things in mind though.  First, we only have record of Christ giving one man such a requirement.  Second, this ole boy put a lot of confidence in his money.  How do I know?  Because Christ seeks to help us remove anything in our lives that could be a hindrance keeping us from walking with the Lord. Money can hinder a lot of folks and money does not need to be a hindrance.  Do you need to give it all away if it is a hinderance?  Not necessarily, but you need to prioritize your life in such a way that Christ is your focus and not your money or your habit or your hobby or a person or your recessive sin pattern.  Christ must be first and, as uncomfortable as we may be with it, He speaks radically to the matter on various occasions.  Remember He also told us to take up our cross daily and deny ourselves.  Some of us are very demanding and it takes a lot to deny ourselves.  I really don't believe that for most of us it is about giving everything we have to others, I believe it is about giving everything that we have...and are...to Christ.  It is about total surrender, and if we have a special thing in our life that we just will not get rid of, Christ may require it.  When we radically love Jesus, we will radically live for Him.  Radically live for Him today!