monetary splendor

"I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first."
(Mark 10:29-31 NIV)

These words from Jesus spoken to his disciples come right after the encounter Jesus has with the rich young ruler. This young wealthy man goes away heartbroken at Jesus' request to go and sell all he has and give it to the poor. It wasn't the act itself I don't think that troubled the young ruler, it was Jesus' request to radically change his life's outlook and what his identity was about that discouraged the young ruler so much. This man had amassed wealth and was used to his time and focus being spent pursuing capital gains. This young man was familiar with a center point to pursue money. I can imagine his relationships, friendships, times of worship, even while faithful and honoring (as the Bible states), fit into, and were pocketed around this greater pursuit: money.

Hmm. I think the connection to nowadays and this rich young ruler is easy to make. I know I am guilty of this. Our lives are oriented such that our schedules revolve around work. Think about if you heard about some guy who's primary focus in life was relationships. This hypothetical guy isn't necessary a slouch, but very much values relationships over monetary pursuits. "Umm, ya, sorry bossman, I know I've missed 45 days this year already, but I'm not going to come in Wednesday or Thursday, one friend is ill and another is going through some difficult struggles in his marriage, so I am going to go and serve them and love on them." This "radical" guy wouldn't have a job long in our culture.

Jesus, in His words of this passage, starts by saying "I tell you the truth." I think that's enough right there to stop and really listen to what will come next. He says, leave all those things culture places a value upon and PURSUE ME. PURSUE WHAT I HAVE FOR YOU. Don't spend your life, the wonderful gifts and talents I have gifted you with, to pursue such a false idol - money.

Whoa there now Mr. crazy blog writer. At the very least, you need money to buy food and clothes and provide shelter for a family, that's how our world works! Duly noted. Money is a necessary evil to live in the world we live in today. But, I want to make the point that there seems to be an oversaturation of the pursuit of money. In my life, I know, I need a greater pursuit of God, and less reliance on money or the security I think it brings me.

More faithfulness in God, less reliance on money.

Money really is a false sense of security. After all, money is just paper, and it burns up pretty fast. Don't believe me? A good exercise would be to take a dollar bill and just light it on fire. I bet a lot of us would have trouble even just burning up $1. Wealth goes away. Economies fail and go through times of crisis. You could go to sleep one day having a million bucks in the bank, and then wake up the next day and have $10 in the bank. God's sovereignty and faithfulness will outlast any length of time money could offer for sovereignty and faithfulness.

I feel like money in its current form is overrated. Money could just as well be chickens instead of paper. Money attempts to convey power and value in our world. That would leave Warren Buffett to be replaced by Colonel Sanders. If chickens were our money, one's wealth would continue to multiply if chickens were money, a lot of people would like that. But chickens are messier and die much easier and are bulkier to carry, so paper was a better choice for money.

I think we can really believe the promise Jesus gives us in this Mark 10 passage. This "truth" that He intentionally tells us. Leaving what is familiar and known to us in life (our lives set up to pursue monetary gain) to seek Jesus and the gospel will return to us IN THIS PRESENT AGE (before we die), a hundred times more than what we know now. We also get the incredible joy of eternal life!

Please note, I am not advocating anything like, "you put a dollar in to the offering plate, you get 10 back in less than a month!" Jesus' words in this passage refer to the richness and splendor in relationships and life contentment that will come back to one who pursues Christ as their primary pursuit.

Would that be too radical to live out? Trusting in God's faithfulness more, denying money's sense of worth and its much lesser ability to complete and provide for us than what the Holy Living God can give us?

I'm going to end here, to let thoughts saturate and mull over in our minds, and then I'm going to post some suggestions that might serve as practical "how to"s to live this pursuit of God more and money less.