Daily Devotional For Thursday, July 10, 2025
Good morning Southside! It’s another wonderful day in the Lord. Making disciples is the last word and command Jesus gave to His followers. I have lost count of the number of supposed Christians and Christians who have told me, “I can’t share my faith. That is something that is private and personal only to me. That is why we have paid pastors to do that.” Can you imagine if you asked someone in your church to tell you about their kids or grandkids, “Oh I can’t share about my kids (grandkids). That is something that is private and personal only to me. That is why we have paid professionals such as their pediatricians to do that.” You would be shocked.
When we look at the life of Jesus, He shared the Gospel with everyone. He did this without any training or seminars or programs such as Evangelism Explosion or the Roman Road. He did not use any of the modern techniques to “close the sale” so to speak. He shared what was important to Him – His relationship with God the Father.
In Mark 10:17 we read this: “As 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?’” (NASB). Jesus didn’t tell him to pray a certain prayer, or check a box on some card, or bow his head and repeat a prayer Jesus prayed. Mark 10 describes this man as a “rich young ruler.” Would you say to Jesus, “Jesus, You better get this right and close the sale. This man’s money could fund your ministry for a very long time.” So, you might think Jesus would tell this rich young ruler what he needed to do so that Jesus’ ministry could be funded.
Well, obviously Jesus had not taken any of the modern evangelism courses to seal this deal. Look at what Jesus said to this rich young ruler in Mark 10:21-22, “Looking 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.’ (22) But at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property’” (NASB).
Now in case you think this was only unique for the rich young ruler, you would be gravely mistaken. All four Gospels show Jesus demanding absolute abandonment of self to follow Him. We see this as early as Matthew 4, when Jesus called His first four disciples. He asked them to abandon four primary important things in their lives:
- Jesus asked them to abandon their jobs and livelihood to follow Him for 3 years 24/7. Now do not miss this point. Jesus asked them to give up their current employment with no guarantee of any income in following Him.
- Jesus asked them to abandon their homes with no promise of comfortable accommodations if they followed Him.
- Jesus asked them to abandon all their possessions, and in this case, their fishing boats and equipment to follow Him.
- He asked them to abandon themselves. He made this very clear to them in Luke 9:23, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me” (NASB). He told everyone to first count the cost before they agreed to follow Him in Luke 14:28-33.
Jesus asked them to leave the safe for the unsafe, the certain for the uncertain, the comfortable for the uncomfortable, self-preservation for self-denial and self-denunciation. In a world that makes “self” a god to pursue your own desires, Jesus told them to crucify their desires. And in the end, they all, except for John, would die as martyrs. Rome tried to kill John but eventually exiled him to the Isle of Patmos, where instead of complaining, having a pity party, he wrote the Gospel of John, his 3 epistles and the Book of Revelation under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
So, is this the Jesus you desire? Is this the Jesus you will follow? If you allow Jesus to give you His life, you must count the same four costs as seen in the 4 points above. Are you willing to do all 4 of these? In our world of modern pop-psychology, we want to rewrite or redefine Jesus’ words with, “Oh, there is no way today Jesus would ask anyone, especially me, to do this?” Be careful here. If you and I go down this path, we are attempting to dangerously make Jesus in our image, to redefine what the Christian faith is so that it makes us feel more comfortable.
The modern church is more comfortable with a middle-class Jesus like us. The cost of discipleship is great, but to me, the cost of no discipleship is greater. As long as the church makes the Christian life about pursuing the American dream rather than denying itself; being as materialistic as non-Christians; accumulating so many possessions, that our attics sag, our garages are full with our stuff and we rent storage facilities to store our “treasure;” rather than having the same heart for the lost and discipleship as Jesus did, billions will remain in spiritual darkness and die and go to hell.
Let me put it this way: I read an article about how a certain First Baptist Church spent $23 million to build a new sanctuary. It had exquisite marble, state of the art technology, and beautiful stained-glass windows. This was just one Baptist church. In that same article, it reported that all the Baptist churches combined in that state had given only $5,000 total to help hundreds of thousands of starving refugees in Sudan. Which do you think was the best use of money by the teachings of Jesus? If I have hit a nerve, good. It is time we stop watering down the Gospel and watering down the call of abandonment by Jesus.
In case you missed it, let me remind you what Jesus said to the rich young ruler in Mark 10:21, “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me” (NLT). Do you think this seems similar to Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:21, “Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be” (NLT). I do not want to be misunderstood here. God is not against anyone having wealth. He made many people in the Bible wealthy – Job, Abraham, David, Solomon, Nicodemus,the rich young ruler, Lydia, Lazarus, his sisters Mary and Martha, and Joseph of Arimathea. It’s not that you have wealth; it’s, are you using it to build God’s kingdom or your own? It’s, are you willing to give it all up if God asked you?
Assignment: Think for a moment – where would Jesus say your treasure is? Where would He say your heart is? Are you building your own kingdom or His? Do you prefer the comforts of life, or character building? Have you really counted the cost of following Jesus, or have you made Jesus into your own image that fits with your own comfortable definition of Him?
Scripture To Meditate On: Matthew 6:21, “Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, help me to have a total abandonment of everything for You. Help me to take everything you have given me and use it all for Your glory, building Your kingdom, and for sharing the Gospel. Please help not to stockpile my treasures here, but in heaven. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly