Matthew 19:26–27: “But Jesus looked at them and said to them, ‘With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’ Then Peter answered and said to Him, ‘See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?'”

January 17th, 2022 by Pastor Ed in devotional

A young man came and asked Jesus what he needed to do to have eternal life. After some discussion, Jesus said that it was “easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Matt. 19:24). This astonished the disciples, and they asked, “Who then can be saved?” (vs. 25). It seemed to the disciples that He was saying it was impossible for anyone to be saved. But Jesus clearly meant human efforts can’t save anyone eternally. If it wasn’t such a serious error, it would be amusing to hear someone trying to earn their salvation by their own good deeds.

Only the grace of God can save. Jesus Himself stated the impossibility of a man being able to save himself. In the case of this young man, he was carefully relying on keeping the commandments of the law to gain salvation. But Jesus knew his heart and knew what he was truly placing his trust in. Only the grace of God could break down his trust in and love of wealth, and fill his heart with the love of Jesus. We are told in 1 Timothy 6:10, that it is the love of money that is the root of all evil. A poor man may love money more than a millionaire, but a greater danger lies waiting for the wealthy man, who gets used to the human doors that money does open. Jesus said it is impossible for a man that has set his heart on riches, to get into heaven. It was the man’s dependence on wealth that was stumbling him in front of Jesus that day.

Peter asked what was probably on the mind of every person listening there that day, “What shall we have?” Peter was saying that the apostles had already done what the Lord had invited the young man to do, in that they had left all, and followed Jesus. Peter wanted to know what was in it for him. This is a time when we believe Jesus must have smiled. Like when my kids were little and they came to ask something similar when they had had done something good, “Dad, what do I get?” It is interesting that Jesus took Peter’s question seriously and spoke to him, and us, an amazing promise. “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life” (vs. 29). God is a debtor to no man. We could not possibly out give Him.

“LORD, we chose You today, we choose life.”