One On One: 100 Days With Jesus--Ministry YearsSample

More: The One who wants to give you more   

He had it all. Almost. He was rich, in his 20s, and not a stretch to think he was good-looking, and the recently elected president of the Young Leaders Club of Israel. But something was missing in his life and he knew it. 

“Teacher,” he asked Jesus, “What good thing must I do to get eternal life?” . . . as if he could get eternal life like he got everything else. But Jesus saw through the swagger. He knew what to poke. He knew the issue that stood in the way of this young man having a whole-hearted, radical, beautiful life in God. For this rich kid, it was his possessions. (He had a lot, we’re told.) 

Yours might be a different issue. Jesus knows what it is, too. 

Ask yourself, what’s the thing that stands in the way of experiencing the amazing life Jesus wants to give me? What are you holding onto? Maybe it is your stuff. Or your rights. Or some important relationship. Or your fears. Or some other pride point. 

Or maybe it’s what you don’t have. “I would follow you, Lord, if . . .” and the conditional terms follow. “If you don’t ask me to be a missionary in Africa.” Or, “if you don’t ask me to be weird like some Christians I know.” In your spirit, you might negotiate for that something you think is missing, “If you give me a husband . . . a child . . . a successful career path.” Or “I’ve got this idea of what I want my life to be like, Lord . . . and if I can do that and follow You too, then I’m all for it.”

The rich young ruler was willing to pull out his credit card, but Jesus said, You don’t have enough . . . Only I’m enough. 

The funny thing is if you think demanding your right to pursue your personal path to an amazing life will get you there, you (and the rich kid) are missing the point. When Jesus says, “I came to give you life—a rich and satisfying life,” He has a plan in mind for your best, your most, your highest, most satisfying life beyond your wildest dreams. It might look different than you envisioned, but the moment after you breathe your last, you’ll be so glad you didn’t hold on to anything that kept you from this highest and best and most life with Jesus. 

The smartest thing you can do today is ask what competes for that singular place in your life that belongs to Jesus alone. Ask Him to show you. When you don’t know what you want but you know something’s missing, let God prove Himself to you to be better. He wants to give you more. He wants to give you Himself. Let everything else go.

Tomorrow: One on one with Jesus and Zacchaeus