In God We Trust

 

“And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto His disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!  And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!  It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.  And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved?  And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.” Mark 10:23-27

Jesus had just addressed a man who had come to Him, having called Him “Good Master,” and asked how he may enter inherit eternal life.  Jesus asked him why did he call Him good, when there is but one Who is good and that is God Himself.  Interesting that here He was, God Himself, standing in the flesh and He said this.  He knew He is God, yet he was submissive unto the Father in all things, just as we need to be.  He humbled Himself to become Man, and as in the likeness of Man, He pointed to the Father God as being good, not taking any credit for any good thing of Him or that He had done.  We should take note and do the same, always.

At any rate, He then proceeded to tell the man to follow the commandments, as Moses taught.  The man claimed to have done all from his youth, which was to mean, what more could he do?  This was exactly what the Pharisees were claiming, too.  They claimed that they were holy and perfect, according to the Law, but God looks at the heart of a man, and, in their hearts, all men are selfish and they do not fully chase after God.  So, the Pharisees were, and so this man was, too.  Jesus rebuked what he said, but, in love, pointed to the one thing lacking in the man’s life.  He had held onto all of his possessions and monies, and had not given to the poor.  Jesus told him to sell it all and give it all to the poor, and he would find treasure in Heaven.  But, the man showed his true heart within and walked away sad because of the great wealth he had accrued and most likely did not wish to give away.  This led into the conversation with the disciples about riches, as quoted from the Bible above.

Jesus tells them that it is a rare thing, indeed, that a rich man would find Heaven, which shocked the disciples.  This was directly opposing what the Pharisees were teaching, and what they had learned.  The more wealth one had, the more they were blessed by God is what they were teaching.  After all, God doubly blessed Job, who was wealthy to begin with, so why would they not believe this, right?  Well, God says that they are trusting in their riches, when Jesus expands upon what He originally spoke.  That is the issue right there.

God desires that each and every one of us would trust Him for all things.  He shows us this in nature.  The trees put no thought into whether they will have water or sunshine.  The birds put no thought into from where their feed will come, or from where their nesting materials will come.  He says so in His Word.  Over and over again we read, “blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.”  If we do so, God promises us in His Word that we will flourish.  Our lives, in His hands, the hands of the Creator God, will become exactly what He intended when He created us.  He wishes us to experience prosperous lives of peace and hope.  So, Jesus points to the root of all evil, which is love of money.  But, you say to trust in money and to love money are not the same thing?

Well, God says that when we love someone (or something) we do what is right by them always.  We sacrifice ourselves for the other.  God came down here and sacrificed Himself in that manner, so that all of us could have the chance to be saved, if only we believe.  Love is not self seeking at all.  So, if we love God, we should seek nothing from Him.  We should wish to please Him because He has already given to us everything we need.  There is but one way to please God, and that is through faith in Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  This was why Enoch was translated (Heb 11:5&6), and in Genesis, the Bible says “Enoch walked with God” (Gen 5:22/24).  This means that Enoch had faith, and, in that faith, was able to walk with God.  This both simplifies and explains walking in the Spirit.  To walk in the Spirit is to have faith in Jesus, and what He has done for us.  By keeping our faith grounded in Him and Him crucified, we may then partake of the victory He there gained over Sin, and live a victorious Christian life.

But, there is still the problem of trusting God fully.  We must trust in what Jesus did 100%.  If we look at our lives with worldly eyes, we will worry, we will fret, and we won’t believe that Christ is sufficient.  We will perform our lives in our own strength and not surrender to God.  That is not how we trust in Him.  And when we look at our lives as how we must live it, we look to our own hands to get food on the table, clothing on our backs, roofs over our heads, and all of the other things we feel we must absolutely have.  We gain those things via money, and we gain money by focusing on it through work, investment, or some other way of gain, placing our trust in the money itself to keep us vested in the things we have, which, brothers and sisters, translates into love of money and not God, in the mind of the Lord!  Our focus becomes completely backwards of God’s way, and what the Bible teaches and fully worldly.  So, Jesus in His one addition of the word trust has fully pointed out exactly what the problem is in each of us.  We don’t trust God.

The disciples were wise and honest enough to see within themselves the exact same thing as the rich men.  They needed money to survive, or at the very least, they needed the ability to trade for their necessities.  This, combined with what they had learned through the Law that to have abundance meant God’s blessing caused them now see that no man could do what Jesus was asking.  Praise God!  Because Jesus tells them that, absolutely, with men this was impossible, “but not with God: for with God all things are possible.”

What the Bible teaches us is that if God is for us, none can be against us, and so we see that with God all things are possible.  If we remain hidden in Christ, trusting God for Who He is and what He has done for us, in true belief, then we stay with Him, and with Him all things are possible.  There is nothing God does not know.  There is nothing God does not understand.  There is nothing God cannot do.  He holds all of this together in His hand and by His Will.  So, we must trust in God, through the Son and His Self Sacrifice.  We must trust in God, through the Holy Spirit to perform the changes within us that need to be done, which we know from experience cannot be done by us.  We must trust in God, the Father, for sending all blessings and gifts to us through what Jesus did, and through the operation of the Holy Spirit.  We must trust God, for with Him anything is possible.  All things are possible.  Only believe!

It is our belief that He has already done all that needs to be done that brings us blessing.  There is nothing we can do to bring about true blessing in our life, just like there was nothing we could do to believe in Jesus.  God authored that faith.  We simply stand in it and try to draw closer to Him, which is a desire also authored by God.  Our growth happens through simple faith and trust, because we cannot create our own spiritual growth.  God does that.  God gives that increase.  It is God Himself Who makes us to be holy.  Jesus’ righteousness is imparted to us by faith, and then we find our way into Heaven.  The largest camel will pass through the smallest of needles if God performs it.  We could never do that, only He can.  “With men it is impossible,” because our hearts are filled with evil and none of us are righteous, not even one.  We trust in God to make the changes, to help us desire to give away all that we own and to do it.  He is faithful to perform the great work He has begun.  Believe it.