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Is it really worth selling it all?
Matthew 13:44-46
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
I have been doing some thinking on this verse in response to some life situations as well as some thoughts by Dallas Willard where he writes:
“These little stories perfectly express the condition of the soul in one who chooses life in the kingdom with Jesus. The sense of goodness to be achieved by that choice, of the opportunity that may be missed, the love for the value discovered, the excitement and joy over it all, is exactly the same as it was fro thsoe who were d reawn to Jesus in those long-ago days when we first walked among us…
Only with such images can we correctly asses the famous “cost of discipleship” of which so much is made. Do you think the merchant who found the pearls was sweating over its cost?”
With these thoughts in mind…my question is this:
What makes choosing a life of following Jesus worth selling all we have? What makes someone say, “This is the way i have been living, now that i have found such a valuable thing, i am going to choose to follow Jesus.”
Have we presented a life of the Christ follower, that would make someone want joyfully give away their current life for something totally different?
Now, I know that this life we have chosen is, but have we really presented it in such a way that people see this? Or, are we just giving them a way out of hell? (Which of course is good, but I think it is an incomplete view of following Christ).
More questions than answers right now…
Gerald said...
108/17/04 8:21 PM | Comment Link |
but what if the way out of hell is the same as the christ life lived out? What if they are one and the same thing? Maybe we aren’t leading as many people out of hell as we think we are. If we assume that forgiveness alone is the sole means by which we escape hell, then the christ life becomes secondary, a non essential add-on. I think that our primary goal should be to keep people out of hell, but that this is only done through the christ life lived out in all of its fullness. We preach a nuetered gospel and I think people are slipping into the abyss becuase of it… “except a man be born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven…”
todd said...
208/26/04 8:29 PM | Comment Link |
i was sitting here trying to find some great way start a nice debate here, and disagree with you. but i realize that your point is exactly what i was trying to say. the gospel we preach MUST be something that poeple will view as the treasure. The “neutered” gospel of getting to heaven when you die that we like to preach, i would agree might not be sufficient…yes, it is true that what Jesus did on the cross is about taking care of sins, but it is ,oh, so much more than that! that is what needs to be explored a bit more…