The Essence of Christianity
- Paul Downie

- 2 hours ago
- 21 min read
Ephesians 2:8-10 NIV
[8] For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— [9] not by works, so that no one can boast. [10] For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/eph.2.8-10.NIV)
Matthew 22:37-40 NIV
[37] Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ [38] This is the first and greatest commandment. [39] And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ [40] All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.22.37-40.NIV)
Recently I read of a Lithuanian influencer who was on holiday in Italy and was more than a little the worse for wear. She was so drunk, in fact, that she got talking to a man who she was convinced was world famous footballer Cristiano Ronaldo. The local guy was a bit of a con-man and was happy to go along with her drunken fantasies. She took a lot of pictures of this chancer and posted them on her social media.
The next day, she was astonished to find lots of people setting her straight on her social media channels. That hadn’t been Cristiano Ronaldo. It couldn’t have been. He'd been playing football in the Middle East at the time.
Apart from giving us fair warning of a side effect of alcohol – that of impaired vision and a serious drowning of common sense and reason, as well as a lack of inhibitions, this humorous episode also has another side to it. This year I have posted a lot about what a real Christian looks like and what it means to follow Jesus. I did so before Far Right leaders tried to convince British people that they had converted and were Christians now (this has already been happening in America for years).
Now, I am not one to judge anyone's conversion. That is between them and God. It is not my place to call them out. However, what we discovered repeatedly is something that really resonated with me this year.
It is the very essence of what a true Christian is and does.
Once we have this in our sights, we can very quickly see if the person we are talking to is really a Christian, or is just ‘faith-washing' their hatred to appear as legitimate.
The very essence of Christianity, as we saw in clear relief in my studies on Galatians and James, is that we are not saved by our works, but by God’s work, and we are saved to work.
Obedience to God can be summed up in the three-fold command to love God, our neighbour and ourselves.
There is no higher or greater command than that.
So if someone claims to be a Christian and does not love God, their neighbour (whoever they are and wherever they come from) and themselves, then they are not a Christian. That is crystal clear.
But what does this mean?
One thing that is an exercise worth doing is to read Jesus' practical teaching and ask ourselves which of these commands we are being asked to obey. That puts an entirely different spin on things.
But in this study we will look at a very famous incident of a man who didn’t love God, his neighbour and himself, and so he lost out on repentance to salvation and walked away from Jesus empty handed.
That man is, of course, the Rich Young Ruler, in Mark 10:17-31.
This study will serve as a stern reminder for us of the perils of not loving as we should, and of loving things that we should not.
I am not a fan of boxing. I think there is something not quite right about people who watch two people seek to harm each other and call it entertainment. However, I see this passage as five cultural clashes between the essence of Christianity and the prevailing culture at the time – and ours too.
The first of these clashes is Works v Grace.
Works v Grace
Mark 10:17 NIV
[17] As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mrk.10.17.NIV)
The town of Queensferry between Edinburgh and Fife is split in two by the Forth Estuary. To the north, you have North Queensferry; to the south, you have South Queensferry. Between the two halves, there are three bridges. There is the historical, and iconic, red steel Forth Rail Bridge, the Forth Road Bridge for slower traffic and pedestrians, and the newer Queensferry Crossing cable bridge for faster motorway traffic.
Three bridges that all arrive in the same place.
Christianity does not work like that. In Biblical Christianity, there is one bridge that takes us from death to life, from sin to salvation, from hell to heaven. There is only one. And not everyone crosses over. To use a metaphor Jesus used:
Matthew 7:13-14 NIV
[13] “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. [14] But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.7.13-14.NIV)
This man seemed to have everything going for him.
Luke 18:18 NIV
[18] A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/luk.18.18.NIV)
Luke told us he had power. We know from the text that he also had money. Matthew told us that he was young (Matthew 19:22).
If he also had good looks and a strong passport, he'd have been the most eligible bachelor in town.
He had everything: power, potential, pecuniary wealth.
And yet he had nothing. Because all that he had counted little if he could not be sure of being saved.
That is the tragedy and the irony of modern life. We can have everything and nothing at the same time. Perhaps one of the reasons why people in richer, safer, more stable countries have ridiculous struggles with mental health has as much to do with expecting much but feeling like you have little as it does with the weather or parental substance abuse (although these things are also factors). Perhaps those who struggle with depression, anxiety and despair perceive the utter emptiness of western life and cannot find a way to fix it.
This man was like that. He had everything his world desired, yet did not have the one thing he needed.
Why?
Look at the question he asked Jesus:
Mark 10:17 NIV
[17] As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mrk.10.17.NIV)
His salvation, like the rest of his life, was about what he could do to achieve it.
But salvation is not achieved. It was never achieved. It will never be achieved.
It is by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone.
That’s why, in a very subtle way, Jesus set him straight:
Mark 10:18 NIV
[18] “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mrk.10.18.NIV)
Nothing this man ever did would be good enough. That is a simple fact. His salvation could neither bought nor earned.
And also, by calling Jesus ‘good’, he had implied that Jesus was good enough, and therefore was God.
The fact that we cannot earn or buy salvation shocked the disciples (Mark 10:26), which led to this response from Jesus:
Mark 10:27 NIV
[27] Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mrk.10.27.NIV)
As Paul later explained in some very famous verses:
Romans 3:22-24 NIV
[22] This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, [23] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, [24] and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.3.22-24.NIV)
Salvation is only by God’s grace. Those who try to earn it or achieve it or buy it will spend their entire existence in vain. They choose the wrong road. They try to cross the wrong bridge.
That is the stark truth of the Gospel.
So we see then that when it comes to works versus grace, grace saves whereas works condemns because we will never be good enough.
The second culture clash we see is really quite jarring: Observance v Love.
Observance v Love
Mark 10:18-21 NIV
[18] “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. [19] You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’” [20] “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.” [21] Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mrk.10.18-21.NIV)
When I was a child, something quite odd happened. There were organisations that were not at all Biblical but purely sectarian in nature. They defined their identity by protesting against Catholicism, or Protestantism if they were Catholic. It used to be a mandatory requirement for people in these organisations to express this identity by going to church. So you would have people who did not at all believe in the most basic tenets of the Gospel coming to church, and even becoming quite powerful there, to express the fact that they were not Catholic. It’s possible that the same thing happened with the Catholic church.
This completely poisoned the witness of churches in the West of Scotland. Instead of being associated with a God who is love, they became associated with narrow-minded hatred, whether this was actually the case or not.
Now I see history repeating itself. We see people adopting Christian imagery as a culture, not out of any reverence or obedience, to express their national identity: to express their whiteness or American-ness or European-ness, out of sheer rebellion against the perceived power of Muslims in particular.
This is nonsense. It has nothing to do with the church or the Gospel.
Here we see a man who, from the outside, was very religious. Luke uses a word that would identify him as a judge or hereditary noble or member of the Sanhedrin or a presiding officer of a Synagogue. Either way, this man would know the law and would be under pressure to follow it as part of his job.
Yet all his outward religiosity and observance had gotten him nowhere. Despite all his outward purity and godliness he was so insecure of his eternal salvation that he sacrificed his dignity, ran up to Jesus and dropped to his knees, begging for his help.
Outwardly, he had everything. Inwardly, he had nothing.
Why?
Well, let’s look at the laws he said he obeyed. Let’s say that we, as a thought experiment, were to look at the Ten Commandments and split those laws into three categories: love for God, love for our neighbours, love for ourselves. Under which category would these laws he obeyed fall?
The answer is obvious. Although they would have secondary effects that would be beneficial to him, he was obeying laws that all expressed a love for his neighbours.
However, what did Jesus say is the most important commandment?
Matthew 22:35-38 NIV
[35] One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: [36] “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” [37] Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ [38] This is the first and greatest commandment.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.22.35-38.NIV)
Now let’s double back and see what Matthew records Jesus as saying to the rich young ruler:
Matthew 19:17-19 NIV
[17] “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” [18] “Which ones?” he inquired. Jesus replied, “ ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, [19] honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.19.17-19.NIV)
The rich young ruler is adamant that he has loved his neighbour as himself since he was a child. But he is completely silent about his love for God.
What’s more, he goes on to provide evidence that he has not love God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength because he valued his wealth more than he did his salvation:
Mark 10:21-22 NIV
[21] Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” [22] At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mrk.10.21-22.NIV)
What see here is one of the most telling discussions in all of Scripture. The rich young ruler loved his neighbours – but to receive salvation, and still did not believe he had it. Which was true. He hadn’t. Because even the love for his neighbours was neither perfect nor enough.
Jesus loved him. The Bible tells us that He wants all people to be saved (1 Timothy 2:3-4). There is no way that Jesus was erecting a barrier to salvation which He knew this man could not cross. No, He was highlighting a barrier to salvation this rich young ruler has erected himself and which needed to be torn down.
Put simply, he loved his money too much to follow Jesus. He had been commanded to love, Jesus loved him, but he loved the world too much to love Jesus back.
Such a tragedy. But a tragedy that is not time and time again.
Do all you can to make sure you are not caught up in the same tragedy.
So having seen the battles between works and faith, and observance and love, we see the third battle between Earthly Wealth v Heavenly Wealth.
Earthly Wealth v Heavenly Wealth
Mark 10:21-22 NIV
[21] Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” [22] At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mrk.10.21-22.NIV)
I am deeply aware that I am treading on controversial ground here. There are whole sections of the church that preach wealth and aspirations and encourage people to give so they will receive.
I say ‘church’, but they are as fake as the designer handbags and Swiss watches you can buy from backstreet markers in some parts of Asia. They are not real at all.
They worship a god, but it isn’t the God. Their god is money.
1 Timothy 6:6-10 NIV
[6] But godliness with contentment is great gain. [7] For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. [8] But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. [9] Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. [10] For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1ti.6.6-10.NIV)
I choose to believe these hucksters and hustlers and con merchants. I choose to believe the Word of God.
So should you.
Matthew 6:24 NIV
[24] “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.6.24.NIV)
But I want you to see one thing clearly. Money is not the problem – you are. It is our attitude to money that turns it from something morally neutral to something that is overtly harmful.
Paul talked about those who desire to get rich at all costs. Jesus talked about those who ‘serve money’. These are people for whom material wealth – whether measured in pounds and pence, dollars and cents, or any other index – is number one in their heart and God is barely even part of the equation, or worse, nothing more than a means to an end.
That is what happened with this rich young ruler. He valued his money more than he valued God. He loved his money more than he loved God.
Put simply, he had an idol.
So he wasn’t so righteous after all.
Luke 12:13-21 contains the searing Parable of the Rich Fool. It’s a deeply challenging teaching on complacency towards God during times of economic success. At the start and the end of this parable, Jesus made two statements that are deeply profound:
Luke 12:15 NIV
[15] Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/luk.12.15.NIV)
Do you hear this? All those advertisements telling you that your life will be more meaningful if you have somewhere or go somewhere or do something?
All lies. Every one of them.
Your life does not consist of these things. If it did, your life would be profoundly empty and meaningless.
And then, after the rich fool loses his life:
Luke 12:21 NIV
[21] “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/luk.12.21.NIV)
Hear this: you can be rich, but you must be rich towards God. You must love Him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. You must live your neighbour as yourself. That is true riches, not how many properties or cars you own or how much money is in your bank account.
This man came to Jesus thinking he was rich. He left knowing he was poor, because the one thing that would make him eternally rich was out of reach as he was not willing to be temporally poor.
Again, we must understand this properly. Jesus was not saying that a life of poverty and aestheticism will get us into heaven. Such thinking would undermine what He would achieve on the Cross and render it useless.
But He was pointing out that this man had an idol that had to be dealt with or he would be unable to follow Jesus.
And that ought to scare us. Jesus is not fooled by outward religiosity. That much is clear from this passage. We ought to examine ourselves and see if there is anything we would not give up to follow Jesus.
If there is, then maybe we too have an idol.
So we have seen three battles between works and grace, observance and love and earthly and heavenly wealth. What we saw next is a battle between Impossible v Possible.
Impossible v Possible
Mark 10:24-27 NIV
[24] The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! [25] 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.” [26] The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?” [27] Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mrk.10.24-27.NIV)
There is a golf club not far from our house. I'm not a huge fan of golf. I agree with Oscar Wylde, at least on one thing. He said it was ‘...a good walk spoiled’.
Am I on controversial ground again?
The reason I mention it is because some golf clubs are astonishingly exclusive. Some you have to pay to become a member, and then a committee still has to meet to determine if they want you or not. Some are notorious for labelling whole sections of society as undesirable or ‘not their kind of person’.
There are so-called Christians who have a golf club mentality to heaven and salvation: not that it will be a windless fairway with no sand traps or water hazards, where the greens are just fast enough and the ball always drops in the hole.
No, it’s that they believe salvation should be on offer only to the ‘right kind of people’. So they reach out to people only in their social circle and totally omit the needs of those outside.
And that is why we see confused disciples when it comes to this man. Let’s be honest: he's a fellow with money, power, influence and he's young. Would you turn him away from your church? Hey, if he was single, how many people would do their best to introduce him to their daughters?
That’s why they are shocked when Jesus lets him go. It didn’t seem to make sense!
Wouldn’t he be an asset to their movement?
But apart from confused disciples, we also see confounded aspirations. Jesus uses a humorous illustration – that of a camel going through the eye of a needle – to tell the disciples that salvation on the basis of wealth cannot be assumed, in fact it is impossible.
The ‘Old Boys Network' will not get you into heaven. Peter will not be standing at the Pearly Gates verifying your checking account and assigning you privileges based on your loyalty status.
The reality is that salvation is by grace and by grace alone. It is not financial. It is not aspirational. What makes it impossible for the rich is that they must become humble and admit that their salvation is a gift from God: they didn’t earn it, pay for it or inherit it. They are fundamentally on the same level as the ‘riff-raff'.
In fact, before God, they are the riff-raff:
Galatians 3:26-28 NIV
[26] So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, [27] for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. [28] There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/gal.3.26-28.NIV)
Again:
Romans 3:22-24 NIV
[22] This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, [23] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, [24] and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.3.22-24.NIV)
1 Corinthians 1:26-31 NIV
[26] Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. [27] But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. [28] God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, [29] so that no one may boast before him. [30] It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. [31] Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1co.1.26-31.NIV)
Salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ is the single greatest equaliser the world has ever known. Capitalism doesn’t believe in such a thing. It believes in winners and losers, and woe betide those who lose!
Socialism and communism profess to believe in equality, but they are hypocritical liars. They are capitalists in red clothing. In those systems, there were always and will always be those who are ‘more equal than others’.
But properly Biblical Christianity places every human being as equal before God: all are sinners, all in need of grace, all receive God’s impossible salvation through the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And that has to be a massive bruise to our ego. If it isn’t, then perhaps we haven’t properly understood it.
We have to understand this correctly. What Jesus is not saying is that the rich will go to hell and the poor will go to heaven. Or, to use our golf club metaphor, that the rich will be shivering on the fairways in a massive downpour while the poor take their places in the clubhouse and gorge themselves on lobster thermidore and prawn sandwiches.
No, because it’s impossible for anyone to be saved without Jesus:
John 3:3 NIV
[3] Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.3.3.NIV)
Acts 4:12 NIV
[12] Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.4.12.NIV)
The rich find it close to impossible to be saved because they cannot love God more than their money and cannot sacrifice their status for their salvation.
But the question has to be asked: is there anything in our lives that makes it impossible for us to be saved? Are we clinging on to anything, anything at all, that prevents us from accepting the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ?
We can see, then, that these four battles of works and grace, observance and love, earthly and heavenly wealth and impossible and possible are astonishingly and uncomfortably close to home.
But there is a fifth battle: that of Sacrifice v Reward.
Sacrifice v Reward
Mark 10:28-31 NIV
[28] Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!” [29] “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel [30] will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. [31] But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mrk.10.28-31.NIV)
Business people call it the ‘value proposition’.
You surrender something to get something back. Provided the profit you gain is better than the loss you paid, you've made a profit. You've generated value.
Let me explain it another way. Each month, I sacrifice some of my salary. It goes into a pension fund. My hope is that the pension fund will prove its worth and I will be able to retire someday.
What happens here is that Peter, who is stunned and bewildered by what has happened with this rich young ruler, asks Jesus what they will get. It’s a legitimate question. As far as anyone with a ‘golf club mentality’ is concerned, this rich young ruler was ‘their kind of person’, and yet he'd left empty handed.
If even he had lost out on the salvation. he'd sought, what hope was there for the disciples?
It’s then Jesus intervened.
Firstly, we see the loss: homes, families, fields. Everything they would need to support themselves. Their entire support structure. All gone.
For some, this really is what it means to follow Jesus. They literally do lose everything.
For others, we must hold lightly to these things and not treasure them in our heart to the extent that they become an idol and a stumbling stone for us:
Matthew 6:19-21 NIV
[19] “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. [20] But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. [21] For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.6.19-21.NIV)
Putting God first and being willing to follow Him whatever it means is the ultimate expression of loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. There is no better expression of it.
Then we see the profit: all of the above, but a hundredfold, and with them persecution.
Why?
Because the people of this world cannot ever understand or comprehend those who live like this. To them, we are a dangerous anomaly that must be controlled and defeated.
Too bad for them that it’s impossible.
Which riles them further.
We finish with the balance. Here we see a man who had everything leave with nothing, while those who had nothing except their faith in Jesus Christ receive everything and more. That is the irony that sees the first last and the last first.
We have seen five clashes of values between the ancient world (and our world) and Jesus.
The question is: which side are we on?
Conclusion
Mark 10:27 NIV
[27] Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mrk.10.27.NIV)
How much has your love cost you?
There may be some who are reading these lines who have had to leave homes or jobs or cities or even countries to be with the one they love.
That is admirable.
How much has your love for God cost you? How much are you willing to let it cost you?
Do you really love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, or are there areas of your life with a locked door and a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign where God cannot enter?
That is the meaning of these five culture clashes between works and grace, observance and love, earthly and heavenly wealth, impossible and possible, sacrifice and reward.
What this man resisted was not just the call of grace, it was the call of love. He wanted a cheap salvation that allowed him to receive an insurance policy but keep his earthly wealth for himself. He wanted to invite Jesus in, but keep Him in the lobby while he had the run of the house.
There is no such thing.
There is an old hymn that, when reacting to what Jesus did on the cross, says:
Were the whole realm of nature mine
That were an offering far too small
Love so amazing, so divine
Demands my soul, my life, my all
At this time of year, people make resolutions for what they will do in the New Year. Some swear off alcohol or vow to go to the gym more often or promise to mind their language.
Most fall by the wayside before January is out.
Before the close of the year, I urge you to make a commitment to have no more idols in your heart – not wealth or politics or sport or anything else – and to go ‘all in’ for Jesus: to love Him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength; to love your neighbours as yourself; to love yourself as His masterpiece; to accept His grace through faith and show it to others.
Because that is how we all become part of the solution.
That is how we become true Christians.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I am done living a fake Christian life. I want to love You with everything and to love my neighbour as myself. I accept Your grace through faith as the only way to salvation. I will do the good works You have prepared for me, now and always. Amen.
Questions for Contemplation
· What did the rich young ruler want from Jesus? Why didn’t he have it already? What does this tell us?
· Why did he walk away empty handed and disappointed? What stood in his way?
· How will you live a life of love for Jesus this year?


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