What if….
Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”
At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Mark 10:21-22
“Follow Me.”
Jesus said these 2 words to Peter and Andrew, and they left their nets and followed Him to become fishers of men.
He said the same to Phillip and to Matthew who left their former lives and set on a new trajectory of life, following Jesus.
The rich, young ruler was given the same opportunity to follow Jesus, but he made a different choice. Mark tells us that Jesus had looked at him and loved him, and then told him what he needed to do: give away the stuff that in reality owned him – and follow Him.
Jesus offered him the same opportunity He gave to the other disciples. But unlike the disciples, the young man went away sad.
What if…
- What if the young ruler made a different choice?
- What if he decided to follow Jesus?
- Would we read his name listed among the other disciples?
- Would he have experienced true freedom instead of remaining tied to his belongings?
- What opportunities did he sacrifice because he chose to go away even though he was sad about it?
- What plans did Jesus have for him that he missed?
- Did he ever wonder about what could have been?
“Of all sad words of mouth or pen, the saddest are these: it might have been.”– John Greenleaf Whittier
When my son left to go on a mission trip over a high school summer, he adopted the theme “no regrets.” He didn’t want to look back and wished he had done things differently. By keeping that focus in the present, his future was one without regret.
What about us? We’re presented choices all the time. We make decisions about who we’ll spend time with, about whether to hold onto to an offense or to forgive, about purchases we make, about what to wear or eat, what movie to see or book to read, how to spend our time, money, resources, what to invest our resources in.
Each of these choices is an opportunity to “follow Jesus” in large or small ways.
What choices are you making today? And how will they impact your tomorrow?
Susan: Each morning I make a choice to spend time with the LORD first. Yesterday morning I drove to our church and spent time in prayer with a group of fellow believers. Tonight, I will go to mid-week worship and Bible study and stay for a time of prayer with other fellow believers.
Cecelia,
Great choices! No regrets ;D
Susan
I like the theme “no regrets”. Maybe I should adopt that for my own life.
Iris, & I need to remember our theme of “no regrets” more often 😀