Sometimes We Are Asked To Do The Impossible
What is impossible for me to do may be possible for you. Could you sell everything you have and give all the proceeds to the poor? Money and possessions are generally crucial to people. As Christians, we admit that everything we have, including our lives, belongs to God. God has entrusted us with money, possessions, and our lives to be our own managers of them. He warns us what will result in satisfaction as we live our lives and what will not.
How many of us can claim we manage our income and belongings perfectly? It’s easy for many of us to spend our money readily. But, sometimes, we may wonder if it would be possible for us ever to have too much spending money. Especially when it comes to Christmas shopping, it’s hard for us to separate what we and others need and what we and others want.
The American Retail Federation estimated that 602 billion dollars were spent on Christmas gifts and merchandise in 2013. Yet, how many Christmas gifts in that year reflected what people needed to live? This year in 2022, it was reported in September to the 77th United Nations General Assembly that it is estimated one person dies of hunger every four seconds in our world.
Many say the poor and starving are not their problem, and they are not sharing their wealth with them. There is a story in the Bible about a wealthy young man who came to Jesus wanting to know what he must do to inherit eternal life. He thought of heaven as a business venture and what he must do or spend to get eternal life.
The young man was moral acting and had kept the ten commands from boyhood. The young man was sincere, and Jesus loved him. Jesus told him, “One thing you lack. Go sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come follow me.” (Mark 10:21). The young man had great wealth, too much he felt to give it all away, and he left Jesus sadly. He could not see that his earthly wealth was replacing his trust in God and God’s ability to give eternal life.
Wealth as possessions or money can be dangerous because many believe life consists of having an abundance of them. It’s their treasure in life. We struggle with abundance, meaning a large amount of something. We like to have lots, more than enough for today. We want to ensure we stay supplied even when we have plenty. We think in terms of stockpiling. We may not be eager to share our abundance and thus subtract from it.
God invites us to make Him the treasure of our lives now. God is a treasure we do not earn or deserve. We can’t make a deal with God to get to heaven. Instead, he offers the free gift of faith to everyone who receives it—faith results in eternal life.
Faith acknowledges that God loved each of us so much that He gave Jesus, His Son, to give us salvation. God is the eternal gift giver of our birth, parents, family, schooling, occupation, marriage, children, death, and heaven. Faith is trust in God’s salvation, not wealth or ourselves.
