Bob Kuechenberg, a former Miami Dolphins football player, once explained what motivated him to go to college. He said his father and uncle were human cannonballs in carnivals. My father told me, "go to college or be a cannonball." Then one day my uncle came out of the cannon, missed the net and hit the Ferris wheel, I decided to go to college.
There’s nothing like seeing a family member hurling headlong into a piece of carnival equipment to motivate a change in your career path. What is it that motivates you? All of us have something that moves us or sometimes keeps us from moving as the case may be. In Mark 10 we read about a man who had his motivations challenged by Jesus. It seems that this man understood, at least to a degree, who Jesus was and came to Him one day to ask what he needed to do to receive eternal life. The Lord began to share with him a number of the commandments that centered around his relationships to others, “Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud , Honor thy father and mother.”
His reply to this astounds me as he piously said in verse 20, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.” You can almost see the slight smile break across Jesus’ face as he then puts His finger right on this mans heart when He says, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
His expression must have changed to that of utter amazement. He was so sure that all that outward stuff he did would hide his hearts real motivation. For all the pretense he displayed to the world, his real God was his stuff. The accumulation of things was what motivated this man.
As you honestly examine your life this morning do you own your things or do your treasures own you? To differing degrees I think this is something that holds most of us. Our culture has an infatuation with stuff, and believers are as caught in it as the rest of the world. Accumulating property and possessions is our national pastime and it doesn’t always have to be worldly things either. I have a friend who jokes about his compulsion with buying Bibles. He just can’t resist the urge to buy a new Bible with a different translation, different size, various study helps just wanting something new is what it comes down to.
Do you find yourself in this trap? Luke 12:15 says that, “a man's life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possess.” Being a slave to possessions can become such a subtle trap that you become ensnared and not even realize it.
The man that Jesus spoke with probably felt that holding on to things he owned only made sense. After all, why trade off my pleasure and security for God stuff? Think about where all the things he was so unwilling to let go of are today. Even worse, consider where he is today if he held this course. Is it worth it now? Was it worth it then? I once read a comment from Christina Onassis, daughter of the wealthy Aristotle Onassis in which she said, “Happiness is not based on money. And the best proof of this is our family."
May I challenge you to do something very difficult? Will you allow God to examine your life and determine if there is something you’ve put before Him? It doesn’t necessarily have to be money. It could be a job, a possession, even a relationship. Whatever it is that is creating distance in your relationship, will you confess it before God and ask Him to help you forsake it. Allow the Lord Jesus to be the motivation of your life. And if you find yourself struggling with whether you should be a human cannon ball or going to college, I’d say “Go Gators”
God Bless and be sure to live out your faith today.
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