(Mark 10:1-16) As I read this morning I was remind of something I also read last night. As people we continue to try to twist God’s standards into something more to our liking, something to make it easier for us. I even had a phone conversation about this on Sunday. We have this false idea that the Christian life is suppose to be easy. Do you really think the Disciples really realized what they were getting themselves into when Jesus asked them to follow Him? I don’t think so, and I’m certain they were pretty confused when hardship came to them. The worst of all had to of been hearing about and seeing Christ’s death. In the passage this morning, the Pharisees were looking to catch Jesus with a trick question. Jesus responded with the truth of God’s standards, showing that His standards had been twisted by man for their own ease of living.
It was commented to me once, “if you aren’t striving for perfect, what are you striving for, mediocrity?”, what truth in those words. God has a standard for us that is very high, and honestly impossible for use to attain on our own. Our very need for God to be Lord of our lives comes from our need for Him to help us be the followers He calls us to be. When we fall back and take control of our lives, I believe we lose the ability to strive for perfection. I think we can too easily fall into the thinking that this world can meet our needs, or at least some of them. If this world could meet our needs why would Christ have come to die on a cross for us? This act of unimaginable love is proof enough of how great our need is for Christ in our lives, working through us to become all the He wants us to be. It is a daily battle that rages on in us, one between the flesh and the Spirit. Let us run and follow the Spirit, amen!
