Moving from mediocre to great . . . .

 17As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”18And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.19“You know the commandments, ‘DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, Do not defraud, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.’”20And he said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.”21Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, “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.”22But at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property. Mark 10:17-22

This morning I work up with a very pressing thought.

I am mediocre.

I can not say it was much of a surprise.  I can say that it was a rather depressing thought.  I like to think that I am an eloquent writer, a great husband, an awesome father, a stirring preacher, a compassionate pastor, a steady leader.  But in that moment this morning the reality of the words you are mediocre rang in my head.

I don’t want to be mediocre.  At least I do not think that I do.  And yet, it didn’t take too long to see that as I may profess to want to be otherwise with my lips, my lifestyle, evidenced by my actions and surroundings betrayed me, calling me a lier to my face.  I froze.  I got very somber.  I reflected. I asked the question how to go from mediocre to great!

This passage leapt up inside of me, and although I didn’t know the fullness of what it said, I somehow knew the answer to my question . . . the how to . . . would be found there.

The man who ran up to Jesus seemed to have it all together.  He had obeyed all the laws.  He had lived the life.  And by golly, he possessed the wealth of Abraham!  He was wealthy in earthly possessions!  He was just awesome in anyone’s book.  And because he realized the most important matter of life is life itself, eternal life, not just the temporary but the permanent forever and ever life; he asked Jesus how to get it.

I can almost see him humbly shaking his head yes while Jesus recites what is necessary to acquire or inherit eternal life.  I can almost see the smile coming across his face and filling him up with joy, when he feels the love that Jesus has for him.  I am not saying he was smug, or proud, just satisfied.  He was beginning to have an assurance.

Note that he calls Jesus “good teacher.”  Jesus tells him that none is good but God.  This is not Jesus saying that the young man should not have called him “good.”  Instead this is only Jesus making sure that the young man did so with the knowledge that he was not only speaking to Jesus but also the Father, to God incarnate (in the flesh).  When the young man does not back down, answers directly, with knowledge and understanding, having lived it out . . . Mark notes that Jesus felt love for him.  See Jesus understood that the young man understood that Jesus was the “real thing;” that being in the presence of Jesus was also being in the presence of God; that he was asking the source not a commentator on the source.  And this was extremely important to the man as he understood that eternal life was “inherited” not bought.  It was a gift from the Father to His children and so only the Father could say who qualified.  He could not wrench it from the Father, it had to be given to him.

So then Jesus tells him to go sell all he has and then come back and follow Jesus.  The young man walks away saddened because he owned a lot.

May I turn this around a little?  He did not own a lot.  A lot owned him.

In order to obtain the most precious life we must be willing to give up the life we have.  We have to be willing to give it all up so that we may follow Christ without any weights preventing us.  We must be willing to let go of what has a hold on us.

When this passage popped into my head this morning, I thought it was only going to speak to me about what I had on my mind.  About my mediocrity.  But instead it told me so much more.

See to be great we must first be following His statutes and ordinances; His laws.  Then we must lose it all, willingly.  We must be willing to give up what has hold of us in accordance with God’s direction.  We must then follow Him unashamedly and full heartedly, unencumbered with all the stuff we came to him with.  Christ was no mediocre man, not because He had so much, and not because He had so little, but simply because He followed God’s will for His life perfectly.  Did He always want to?  No.  Remember the prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane? 

"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done."  Luke 22:42

So, don’t tell me you don’t feel like it.  The question is: “Is whether that thing, matter, person, etc. has hold of you or you of it?”  If you have hold of it, then you can leave it, by God’s direction and strength.  See each of us can move from mediocre to great. We just have to do the word, let go of the stuff that holds us, and follow His direction. 

Let’s not wait.  Let’s do it today.

Got Word?

Love yah,