In my high school youth group, we used to play a game I loved. The game was Bigger or Better, and the object was simple: keep trading up for the biggest or best prize. To start, we were divided into teams and each team was given a single paper clip. We were then unleashed on a neighborhood with a simple assignment: “Come back with something bigger and better than this.” We’d go house to house, making trades. At first, we’d trade in the paperclip for something smallish, like a cup or dish. We’d trade that in for something bigger… say, a basketball or framed piece of art. And on and on we’d go, until we were called back together to display our spoils.
Trading up is always a thrill. This is the message the rich ruler seemed to miss during his encounter with Jesus. He had his eyes on the prize of eternal life, but he misunderstood the path to getting there. Though he recognized Jesus as a “good teacher,” he missed God’s heart. This ruler was a good child who turned into a good man, and he wanted assurance that he was good enough.
Jesus rattled off a few of the ten commandments: “Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not bear false witness; honor your father and mother” (Luke 18:20). To which the man had the audacity to respond, “I have kept all these from my youth” (v.21). But even if this man had been perfectly obedient with these commandments, keeping the letter of the law is not the same as following the heart of the God behind that law.
Jesus offered him a trade up.
Instead of keeping all the rules, the man could sell all his belongings. You see, Jesus knew that despite his outward obedience, the rich young ruler was missing out. His money was in the way. Rather than asking the man to make a tremendous sacrifice—another religious task—Jesus was really offering the man his freedom. But it does not always appear that way to those of us who hear such offers. No wonder the crowds declared, “Then who can be saved?” (v.26).
Jesus’s response: “What is impossible with man is possible with God” (v.27).
Go on, bring to the Lord whatever you hope will save you. Bring your good works and best days. Bring your charity and church membership. Bring your idyllic childhood and productive adulthood. And trade them in. He may not ask you to sell everything and give the proceeds to the poor, but He will ask you to part with anything in your life that’s keeping you from knowing the love of God.
Accept Christ’s invitation to lay down your goodness for something better. It’s a trade up.
Erin Davis is an author, blogger, and speaker who loves to see women of all ages run to the deep well of God’s Word. When she’s not writing, you can find Erin chasing chickens and children on her small farm in the Midwest.
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46 thoughts on "Entering the Kingdom"
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You said something. If we’re holding on to things that are not Gods best, we will have trouble receiving Gods best. This line I’ve read a few times during this devotion. This will stick with me as I go throughout my day. I’m releasing anything that hinders me from growing closer to God.
I just read a comment that stated “If we are holding on to things that are not Gods best, we will have trouble receiving Gods best.” I kept reading it over and over again as it kept sinking in to me. I’m ready to trade up! I’m releasing anything that has been nagging at me or Lee’s my heart from Him! I treasure my time with God in the morning. I’ve been slacking the past few weeks and God still has rained blessings. I’m forever grateful.
I specifically loved the passage in Luke of the blind beggar. He yelled fearlessly on the ground while covered by so many people that even if Jesus looked in his direction wouldn’t be able to see him. But he yelled and asked Jesus to heal him and he knew Jesus knew exactly what he needed healing for. That’s faith. Faith that our God is all knowing and loving and we don’t have to tell Him what we need, but that He already knows.
This resonates with me today! I’ve been slowly working through this study, and today I’m preaching about this exact idea, of being ready for God’s best. If we are holding onto things that are not God’s best, we will have trouble receiving God’s best for us. This is something God keeps speaking to me personally about, and I’m trying to discern what in particular at this point in my life God is challenging me to release to him…
What do I hope will save me? My career? My relationships? My health? Being a generally good person?
Lord I pray to find my safety in You and You alone. Show me the way to You
I’ve done an in depth study of this passage in the book of Mark, so these are not entirely my thoughts, but do you notice which commandments Jesus leaves out? Namely, “You shall have no other Gods before me, you shall not make idols or bow down and worship them, you shall not take the name of the Lord in vain, you shall keep the Sabbath holy.” These are the commandments that directly relate to our relationship with God, and that’s exactly what the rich young ruler was missing: relationship. Just as Erin said, the young man’s possessions are what got in the way of that relationship, which is why Jesus asked him to sell it all. In Mark’s version of the passage, it says that Jesus looked upon the man and loved him. After Jesus told the man to sell his possessions he walked away sad because he so valued his stuff! It’s heartbreaking to read that this man was loved by Jesus, was being invited in to a relationship with Him, and still he walked away. Some believe that this man was Mark because who else would have been able to tell that Jesus looked upon him with love? Some also believe that Mark writes himself into the garden where Jesus is taken before the cross. He runs off without any clothes! Another detail that only the author would know. If that’s the case, then this rich young ruler did follow Jesus! There’s hope for others too. Those of our friends who are so longing for intimate relationship and who are seeking it everywhere else besides Jesus. That’s the thing, though, it’s a choice. It’s always a choice.
Today I pray that I can give God as much of myself as I can and I can enjoy the little things he places throughout my life during the day :)
Nothing is too hard for God!
If we truly believe that we will now allow the struggles of life to turn us away from Him, or push us into a “do-it-yourself” mindset.
In an era with social media, overnight successes and everyone seemingly making it on their own, as children of God may we always remember to pray and not lose heart, knowing that earthly treasures, though nice, don’t bring eternal life.
God doesn’t want us to lack in any area, but we should not get to the point in our lives where we can’t walk away from everything and simply follow Him.
Love this!
Well said!!! Spot on! Needed this wonderful reminder of Who and Whose I am! Thank you! Great study!
The parables that Jesus shares seems to be valuable and relatable in any season that I’m in. The example of the Pharisee and Tax Collector was convicting as we’ve seen this example of humility throughout the study of Luke.
Meditating on this verse today:
“…For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” – Luke 18:14
The parables that Jesus gives is relatable in any
1 Timothy 6: 17. Enjoy what God has provided. Don’t let it become an idol though. Be a cheerful giver. Enjoy the coffee. Enjoy the flowers. Thank God for both. Consider: Invite someone to have coffee with you. And share your flowers – pay it forward. But don’t feel guilty for enjoying what God provides. He’s a good Father. That’s my additional thoughts.
luke 18:27 is a verse i have been keeping close to my heart lately as i pray for my S/O to come to faith. i am constantly worrying that i’m not doing enough or behaving in a godly manner to be a good example to him, but today’s reading and devotional helped remind me to surrender this prayer to god, and trade up my efforts for his own better, perfect ones. there are days when i feel hopeless and helpless, but more often than not god has brought me a sense of peace that things will be okay and he is working in his perfect timing. <3
Valerie – you have been in my prayers and I will keep you there until the joyous day that your S/O enters into a personal relationship with Jesus. Until they are transformed by the grace of God!
Is God really asking us to give up our coffee and flowers (Steph C)? Or is He asking us to check our hearts? If the coffee becomes so important that it keeps us from God then I can see Him asking us to give it up, but is it wrong to enjoy a cup of coffee? Do I literally have to give up EVERYTHING? Is that what God is asking us to do here?
Amen!
This reminded me of my boys when they were younger and collected football cards… always swapping with the hope of getting a full team or squad…
My small group watched Heaven is for real yesterday…
What are we like as believers.???
We profess and yet when it comes to the crunch, we struggle to let go of the stuff here that are earthly.. we hold on to status..Holding on to the bank balance with a “what will happen tomorrow” mentality.. we hold on to things that are of no consequence, in fear of letting go..
Here’s the thing, for me, believing nd knowing that all i have.. all that i am, everything good is from God, i have to trust thst when i am asked by my Protector, Provider, my Savior, my Lord and creator to ‘swap’ all i have acheived by and in His Grace, I must trust and believe that the best and better will follow..
All I have is because of Him.. all I am is by His love grace mercy faithfulness..
Without Him I am and have nothing.. apart from Him my life is empty.. ‘a sounding gong’
But God…
His plans for here on earth are awesome..BUT..
Oh my goodness the eternal life that Jesus has bought for us… is going to be absolutely out of this world… Perfect and all and beyond whst we could ever dream or wish for..
Amen..
Love and blessings sisters. ..always..❤
As a mother who is single parenting and always on the go, I treasure these quiet moments with God. I need this time. I thrive for this time. I crave it. Sometimes my mind is so full that I try to pick out at least one thing that I can walk away with from the devotion. I am enjoying this so much. Today what stuck out to me was: What in my life is keeping me from knowing the love God. Something for me to ponder throughout my day today.
Praying and believing with you Lauren. Our Lord is able. He knows your longing for this child . Lord I am knocking with Lauren, asking for a new creation to be blessed to have her as a mother. We know you Jesus and ask for this miracle in the power, love and joy of your name, please bring this miracle to bless Lauren. Thank you Lord.
I am not usually a commenter, but today I am blown away by God’s goodness in providing this study right when I needed it.
Yesterday I journaled about feeling completely hopeless, tired, and sad. I continue to struggle through “unexplained infertility” and on Tuesday afternoon I had an appointment to kick off my third IUI cycle. The first two times I was full of hope and confidence, but this time feels different. I’ve almost been feeling like the whole thing is pointless. The third cycle is a big one, because if it isn’t successful doctors start looking at the next (and more extreme) step, so it feels like there’s a lot riding on this.
ANYWAY- yesterday I was feeling emotionally exhausted and hopeless…. and the very first verse in today’s reading is Jesus explaining the need to “pray always and not give up.”
I actually laughed out loud at this.
I continue to read and God reminds me in THREE separate verses that nothing is impossible or too difficult for him! Thank you, Jesus!
I felt hopeless yesterday but today I pray for the faith and perseverance of the blind beggar. When logic and statistics about IUI success rates tell me to be quiet, may I “cry out all the more”, never giving up and trusting that there is nothing impossible for my God.
Regardless of the outcome of cycle three, I know that MY God- the God who works wonders!- is faithful and strong. Nothing is too difficult for him!
Praying with you Lauren. May God give you peace and rest in Him and your heart’s desires.
Some days I feel as if I don’t measure up to what God wants or who he truly made me to be. I feel judgemental, unforgiving and question how to be a better mother and a better wife and above all a better child of God. The reading this morning lets me see that I need to give more and show more selfless love to others without feeling like no one appreciates me or that I deserve a gold medal. I want to give God more of myself everyday in every way possible.
Jesus said, “One thing you still lack, sell all you possess and distribute it to the poor and you shall have treasure in heaven…” Who can do this and make it count? In my eyes, it is Jesus alone. Even if we did sell all that we had in our homes, it would not earn us eternal life. We receive it because Jesus did exactly what He described. He gave up all He had to give it to the poor. That’s us. And yes, the standard of living in the Central America is a huge wake up call. I learned the lesson that I am a steward of the gifts God has given us when I told visitors from El Salvador to “take what you need” from our home. And you know what? The truly needy will take just what they need.
Here’s what I’m contemplating this morning…
What do I “hope” will save me?
-my career
-success at work
-my sales skills
-my (healthy) weight
-my health in general
-my savings account
-my intelligence
(Sad to see it in writing. I honestly believe these things can/will save me. If only…)
How can I take these “possessions,” sell them all, to go and follow him? What does it look like in each area.
Lord, reveal your heart to me. Show me the way.
Stephanie, this resounds with me so deeply. It is so honestly stated and I am sure there are many other shes here that would create the same list (myself included). May we all turn our hearts to the Lord and ask him to reveal his path for us. May we have the strength and fortitude to follow the path that He asks of us!
In addition to my comfort and our salaries, I add to Stephanie’s list:
– my looks
– healthy, pain-free loving
– a sound mind
– my husband
What does it look like to surrender these to God? Scary. But He is trustworthy. I don’t need to rely on anything or find my worth in anything other than him. It is peace and hope.
I think it is so easy to read about Jesus telling this man to release all of his wealth and possessions to go follow Him and give it a negative connotation. We place so much worth in our things that the idea of giving them all away seems like such a burden, when really it is such a gift!! Jesus is giving this man FREEDOM! Freedom from earthly ideas that say wealth=happiness or that you have to have x,y, and z to fit in. Jesus sees past the facade of importance created by wealth and says we are important because we are God’s children- we don’t need anything else to justify our importance on this Earth! Thank you Jesus for freeing us from the burden of having to prove ourselves and loving your children so well!
This was on point today!!! Thank you, Jesus!!!
So so good. Makes me really think about good works and generosity and what I think I’m doing it for. Thank you for this that the refinement keeps on. Praying for us all to have hearts for God. Not out of what we do but what He has done. Who He is. And let our actions be an over flow of that.
❤️
How like the rich young ruler we sometimes are. He believed his identity was in his wealth and in his vitality. To this day he is known as the rich young ruler. That is what he felt defined him. Do we not sometimes do the same? We let others’ opinions define us or our professions or our standard of living or our academic degrees or the success of our children or our clothing or our Facebook “friends” or our relationship status… You name it. The rich young ruler saw himself through the number of coins he had accumulated in his short life. But he knew he was yet missing something. Being told to give away that which he thought defined him cut him to the core – and unfortunately he traded down. He walked away. Oh he still had his riches and his youth but he walked away also with his low self esteem, a mistaken opinion of himself and a mistaken opinion of how God saw him and of who he could become. Such a sad outcome to a profound opportunity to get it right. Jesus tells us our true identity is found only in the One Who created us and the One Who died for us. He and He alone defines us. We grasp at other things and other people and we build our resumes or we feel we will never measure up because if only we had… Fill in the blank. Our true identity can only be found in Jesus Christ, in accepting Him. Colossians 3:10,11 tells us that how we formerly identified ourselves no longer applies. Neil Anderson wrote: “Our identity is no longer determined by our physical heritage, social standing or racial distinctions. Our identity lies in the fact that we are all children of God and we are IN CHRIST… A Christian gains forgiveness, receives the Holy Spirit, puts on a new nature and gets to go to heaven. A Christian, in terms of his or her deepest identity, is also a saint, a child born of God, a divine masterpiece, a child of light, a citizen of heaven.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 further speaks of our identity. Why do we settle for less? Why do we fall for Satan’s lies? What “better“ are we unwilling to release that we might gain the “best“? Do we not trust the Giver? Ouch. Let’s renew our minds so we are not fooled. We are the daughters of the King who owns it all. We are His heirs. Let us never foolishly trade that for anything. All else is fool’s gold.
Amen
I have been loving this study and this week imparticular has been thought provoking, convicting and soul searching for me. Thank you!
I agree! Same. Thank you Jesus!
Upon reading through today’s devotional for the first time, I am ashamed to say that my initial reaction was irritation. “What? You’re telling me all this work I’m doing isn’t good enough for God? He’s going to ask me for more?” Wow… How He used this moment to humble me. Grumpily, I began taking notes, referring back to today’s scripture, re-reading, and suddenly it clicked. I’ve been spending a lot of time lately praying about aspects of my character that I wish to turn over to God, for Him to reinvent to allow me to serve Him better. Ugly things like righteousness, and entitlement. See, I work very hard each day to be the image of self-discipline. From rising before anyone else, to accomplishing a long list of tasks that I see as bettering myself spiritually, physically, and emotionally. All under the pretense of “self-help” and “self-care”. I’ve been noticing the tendency lately for me to feel self-righteous and pompous when I complete all my daily goals. “Look at me, I’m so self-disciplined!” Yuck. As I wrote my notes today, I found God speaking to me. Erin’s words “Go on, bring to the Lord whatever you hope will save you, and trade it in”. Oh my… I heard God say in these words, “Take that supposed self-discipline that you hang so much self-worth on, and trade it in. That’s not what’s important to me”. Thank you Lord for hearing me, for taking the ugly parts of my heart and making them beautiful again. Today, I am striving to accept Christ’s invitation to lay down my own “goodness” for something better. Impossible standards only lead to feelings of failure, I’d much rather have a humble and gracious heart for the Lord.
THIS! Ashley, you nailed it! Thank you for sharing! ✝️
Thank you Ashley for your honest and humbling post. I felt identified too.
Thank you so much for sharing! Yes! I have similar lists! As women who among us doesn’t? Let’s trade them in!
Ashley, I love this so much. Exactly how I feel at times. Thank you for being transparent and sharing. We all gain so much from each other when we can can share from our heart our deepest struggles and how God is speaking to us. It just makes me know that I am not alone in what I deal with
My first comment was supposed to be in response to Angie’s, but it went in the general feed. I still haven’t figured out this commenting things.
Our preschoolers a our church did that same lesson, and I had the privelage to teach them. And you are right, they are so enthusiastic about the things they learn that God can do! It’s beautiful and I pray that it is catching! That I could always believe so enthusiasticly in the The things God can do too! May we all!
I just returned from a 10 day medical mission trip to Honduras. Over the days of clinic we treated almost 4,000 patients and saw 160 of them begin new relationships with God through faith in Christ. It always changes my perspective when I travel. I enjoy spending money on flowers for my yard. There’s nothing inherently wrong with flowers. God created beauty everywhere we look. But there are people who are working 12-16hr days for less than $7. They have to choose between basic medical care and feeding their children. Many have never heard of the hope that is in Christ. It breaks my heart. Do I have the right to be drinking $7 coffees and buying $30 bushes when there are so many who need so much? If I truly see my money as belonging to God and loaned to me, wouldn’t I make different choices?
Seeing the world is eye opening to the luxuries and conveniences we get accustomed to. Thank you for sharing !
Sunday we had the blessing to pick up our grandchildren at their church because their mommy and daddy had obligations each service. As we picked up our 3 year old he said, “Jesus made the blind man see. He fixed his eyes.” His joy and enthusiasm was absolutely beautiful and fully trusting in the truth.
Jesus give me (us) eyes to see and hearts that accept your truths with enthusiasm, beautifully trusting You.
And Lord, bless those men and women who spread Your Word to the children, “the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”