Thursday, October 23 ~ Miriam

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Hebrews 8; Ecclesiastes 10; Jeremiah 41-42.

Today's scripture focus is Mark 10:17-22

The Rich Young Ruler
17 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?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments, ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” 20 And he said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.” 21 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.

Well, I think we can all identify with the rich young ruler.  Well, maybe not the rich part.  ha ha  But certainly the desire for earthly treasures is present in pretty much everybody, to one degree or another.  Definitely some people are more enslaved by it than others, but we can all understand wanting that dream house or car or vacation, etc.  or even just to not worry about our finances and whether there will be enough to go around each month.

As we've discussed before, there isn't anything wrong with wanting those things, having them, or working towards them, but we do need to make sure of our priorities and our motivations.

I think it comes back to serving others and putting others first.  Not that we should make ourselves destitute or anything like that, but if we are aware of a need that we could meet and we choose instead to invest our money or our time or our help or whatever it is in something for ourselves rather than meeting that need, that can be a problem.  May we be aware of people and situations around us where we can help in some way, and be good stewards of our talents and blessings, whatever they may be.

Have a great rest of the week.

Tomorrow's scripture focus:  Mark 10:23-31

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage:  Hebrews 9; Ecclesiastes 11; Jeremiah 43-44.