An Invitation to Freedom
For Meditation
I think everyone is longing for a simpler life. We seek simplicity through home gadgets that promise convenience, through planners and smart phones that help us be more efficient. Ironically, the more we acquire to try to make our lives easier, the more complicated and burdened our lives often become.
Jesus’ invitation to live the good life is an invitation to freedom. When we abide with Christ like a branch connected to a vine, our fruitfulness depends on how we are pruned. The spiritual discipline of simplicity is an intentional way we submit to pruning. Jesus told the rich young man in Mark 10:21 to shed all of his earthly possessions because he wanted him to have freedom from his things and to have real spiritual abundance.
As you prepare for worship this week, tap into your longing for a simpler life. Where are you longing to be free? Are you focused too much on accumulating or protecting your things? Do you take on too many commitments in your schedule that you are overwhelmed and exhausted? What burdens are keeping you from experiencing the fullness of life in Christ? What is hindering you from being rooted in God’s love?
– Ester Choi
““May God give you—and me—the courage, the wisdom, the strength always to hold the kingdom of God as the number one priority of our lives. To do so is to live in simplicity.””
Mark 10:17-27
17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”
20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”
24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 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.”
26 The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”
27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”