Pentecost XX Bottom Line Spirituality:Worldly and Godly Thinking

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Godly Abiding Spiritually in Jesus Changes the Meaning of What we See Worldly When Not Abiding in Jesus.

Godly thinking understands the difference between worldly reading what is seen and spiritual seeing what is not read.

Mark 10:17-31. "Sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and come, follow me."

The Facts: a man ran up and knelt before Jesus and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good?” Good is another derivative for God. Jesus is checking on him to see if he knows who He is talking to.

“No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: 'You shall not murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and mother.'" He said to Jesus rather piously, "Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth."

Here was a man who had followed all the commandments since his youth, and he did not know what they were. Jesus left out the relationship with God for He knew he had been doing the first four. In the last six he left one out, but the young man, as with many readers, did not know Jesus had set him up. It was “Thou shall not covet” which means to greatly desire, wish or long for in a bad way.

Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!"

How hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! Worldly thinking believes we must sell all we have and give it to the poor so that we can follow Jesus.

Godly understanding knows that, in our heart, we cannot depend upon anything other than the Presence of Jesus for our life. Rich or poor enter the Kingdom of God through His grace. The young man asked Jesus what must he do to enter the Kingdom. There is nothing we can do. No one can do anything to enter the Kingdom. It is pure grace. If he had said to Jesus I can’t do that. Jesus would have said great, let us talk about grace. It was a missed opportunity.

Tradition points to the possibility that the young man was John Mark Himself. There is an incident in Gethsemane in his Gospel that may be Mark’s personal experience. A young man had his toga stripped from him at the betrayal. He ran into the darkness naked. This may have been John’s signature of his actual experience of being in the garden at that time, Mark 14:51. Otherwise, why else put it in?

It is not difficult to enter the Kingdom rationally. It is impossible!

Spiritual conscious thinking has no agenda. It opens the heart to discover the Lord’s Will.

The missed point rationally is we are thinking of the Kingdom in the sweet by and by. Spiritually, for Jesus, the Kingdom was right here and now. It is the Presence of God. Jesus is God. This young man, the Apostles and all who were born from that day forward could enter the Kingdom of God any time, in any place and under any conditions. We do not do God’s will to get into the Love of God. Grace is to experience the Love of God to do His will. The Kingdom of God is not a place, or a time but it is for now. It is the Presence of God. An open heart is the key. Wonder what difference it would make for you to be in the Kingdom of God now or not and you will discover the Wonder Key to the Kingdom.

“Who can be saved? For mortals it is impossible, for God all things are possible.” That is pure Grace.