monday 25th may – MARK 10:17-23

“Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” ¹⁸ So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. ¹⁹ You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honour your father and your mother.’” ²⁰ And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.” ²¹ Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” ²² But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.²³ Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!”

I have really been exercised in my thinking this week as I have been preparing these devotions for you, about the way we see and think about ourselves and how that impacts on our effectiveness to be used by the Lord. How you label yourself really matters! In this account from Mark chapter 10, this successful young man walks away, having decided against following Jesus. It almost seems as if Jesus failed him, in the sense that he failed to convince him. Should we label Jesus, a failure, in this instance? Of course not! And so here is my challenge for you, and me, today…Perhaps we should rethink how we interpret our failures too. Jesus and the Father are one. That did not change while he was on this earth. Therefore, Jesus connectedness to God meant he saw Himself rightly. As He was continuously connected to the Father, so we are continuously, through Him, connected to the Father…therefore our connectedness to God can do the same for us! “Christ in us the hope of glory!” Colossians 1:27.