Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“‘Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’ When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astounded and said, ‘Then who can be saved?’ But Jesus looked at them and said, ‘For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.’”
NL Daily Devotion for Saturday, March 11, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
It’s easy for me to be smug and think this doesn’t apply to me. I’m not rich, I tell myself, choosing to define what “rich” means in a way that excludes me for my own self-justification.
Then I call myself on my bs. I make more than 60% of the world’s population. So if Jesus were to tell me to sell everything I own and live a simple life following him, could I? What about the medications I’m dependent on? What about the needs of my dependents? I live in Minnesota—not having heat really isn’t an option. When I moved into an apartment a couple years ago, I had a list of “non-negotiables” which I justified by saying: I’m fifty. I’m too old to scrape my car in the winter, or do my laundry down the hall or somewhere else, or live without air conditioning, or hand-wash all my dishes, and so on and so forth. These are incredible luxuries, and I know it. Could I walk away from them just because Jesus asks me to?
All I can say is that, while I do try to live a faith-filled life characterized by service, it is a great comfort to me to know that I do not have to earn salvation through my own merit. With God all things are possible. Thank God.
What would I be willing to give up to live a simpler life of faith?
