Mat 19:16-19 ESV
(16) And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”
(17) And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.”
(18) He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness,
(19) Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
I’ve always found this story a little bit funny, even though I do feel sorry for the poor guy who was asking Jesus the questions.
The reason that I find this story so funny is because of the second question that the guy asked Jesus. You see, the first question was alright: “What good deed must I do to have eternal life?” Of course, good deeds won’t get us into Heaven, so the guy was already a little bit off track, but I’m willing to cut him some slack since he may not have spent much time around Jesus yet.
What happens next is pretty funny, though. Jesus answers the guy by basically saying, “Dude, you know what to do–you’re a Jew! Keep the commandments!” Now maybe I’m reading a little bit too much into this story, but it seems to me that the guy must have felt a little stupid right then, because the next question he asks is really, really dumb.
He asks, “Errr yeah, I know that I need to keep the commandments, Jesus…but uhmmm which ones?”
Now, if I were Jesus, I would have been like, “What part of keep the commandments do you not understand?!?! Keep ALL of them, dummy!”
I guess that’s one of the many reasons I’m not Jesus–He has so much more patience than me.
Anyway, this story sums up the heart of many Christians today. They want to follow Jesus, but they’re only willing to give God so much. I know how easy it is to fall into this trap, because I find myself doing it all the time. I’ll find myself trying to cut little mental deals with God. I find myself figuring I can lose my temper just a little bit, because overall I’m being more good than I am bad. I find myself figuring that I can check out that cute co-worker when she bends over to pick something up and her shirt falls away from her chest, because it’s not like I’m sleeping around or anything, right?
Wrong.
Jesus doesn’t cut deals. He wants all or nothing.
Oh, don’t get me wrong. Jesus’ mercy covers us when we mess up. The problem is when we start thinking that we can sin just a little bit and let mercy cover it. We know that we’ve got a problem when we start thinking that it really doesn’t matter what we do on Saturday night, because God’s mercy will cover it by Sunday morning.
The Apostle Paul summed it up so well when he wrote:
Rom 6:1-2 GNB
(1) What shall we say, then? Should we continue to live in sin so that God’s grace will increase?
(2) Certainly not! We have died to sin—how then can we go on living in it?
So, I say again: When we blow it, God’s mercy will cover us. But we’ve got a problem when we start trying to figure out exactly how much we can get away with.
I write this blog for myself (like I do all of my blogs) because I have so often found myself trying to make these little deals with God. I find myself thinking that I’m not doing the really bad sins, so the little sins are probably OK. Fortunately, God, in His grace, treats me like he did the guy who questioned him so many years ago. Instead of writing me off when I start disobeying His commandments, He shows me compassion and pulls me back to Him.
And for that I am eternally thankful.
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Category: Scriptural Musings |
Tags: scriptural musings
