Luke 18:18‭-‬23 Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ” And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich.

Now let’s discuss the hard matters of SALVATION. If you claim you believe in Jesus, but are not ready to surrender your will to him and live for him, are you his disciple? And if you are not a true disciple, then Jesus is not really your Lord; because the two always stands side by side. Where there is a Lord, there must be a disciple.

Look at the scenario above in Luke 18:18-23. The rich ruler had heard and seen Jesus do and say many wonderful things, and he loves the person of Jesus and believes in him. He tells Jesus, he wants to follow him and have Eternal life; Jesus says, “Go and sell all that you have and give the proceeds to the poor and come and follow me”. That was too hard for the man. He couldn’t do that. He walked away from the eternal life he initially claimed he wanted. His believe in Jesus was not proper, it lacked conviction. He didn’t really believe as he claimed, and Jesus just proved it with that command.

That is the sad reality for many who we will call ‘Christians’ today. We love Jesus and we will swear that we believe in Him. But surrendering to His will is a different proposition. We find it fanciful and safe to be associated with Jesus, but to deny ourselves and live for Him is hard. We cannot do that. But Jesus said in Luke 9:23:

“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”

Like that rich ruler, are you really saved if you cannot surrender to Jesus your will, but maintain that you believe in Him? Are you saved? Is your belief a true belief? HARD QUESTIONS. I will leave you to brood and meditate on that. GOD BLESS YOU MY FRIEND. Amen!

                GRACEFUL MORNING