For most of our married life, my wife and I maintained a ministry in our home of rescuing women from the street. Many were homeless or involved in the sex trade. By temporarily bringing them into our house, we showed them the love of Jesus and guided them to new life in Him.
Church friends told us we were crazy. “They will rob you blind,” they said. But we had no fear of that. Our commitment was that everything we had belonged to God. He could take care of His stuff better than we could. If anything came up missing, that was God’s problem, not ours.
There can be no halfway commitment among those claiming to be Jesus’s disciples. Jesus says discipleship is an all-or-nothing relationship. But that startling demand raises some serious questions in a Jesus-follower’s mind.
The “everything” of this requirement includes all the people and things in our lives. We must ask how and when we have given up everything for Jesus and His kingdom. Are we holding anything back? Could He ask for anything, and we would freely and gladly offer it because it already belongs to Him?
If we are Jesus’ disciples, everything in our possession and all our human relationships are His. What freedom there is in owning nothing, in just being a steward of God’s stuff that He has assigned us. That kind of attitude and belief enables radical and joyous benevolence.
Think of what things or relationships you are grasping tightly to that Jesus says you would be better off giving up to Him. Be a disciple.
Earl C Pomeroy is a retired engineer, chaplain, wilderness camping guide, and recreational poet. Writing poetry is how he processes things. He was formerly a member of the Word Weavers International chapter in Boone County KY, but he now lives in Forney, TX, with his daughter. He has self-published a book titled More Than Finest Gold, a paraphrase of Psalm 119 fashioned as an English language acrostic. For most of his married life, he and his wife, Ila Jean, maintained a ministry of rescuing women from the street in their home. They showed the women the love of Jesus and guided them to a new life in Christ. You can contact Earl at www.mountaintopcreatives.com.