What Did You Say?

The other day, the following passage from the Bible seemed to jump out at me. Let’s read, Matthew 19:16-24 (ERV); 16A man came to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to have eternal life?”

17Jesus answered, “Why do you ask me about what is good? Only God is good. But if you want to have eternal life, obey the law’s commands.”

18The man asked, “Which ones?”

Jesus answered, “‘You must not murder anyone, you must not commit adultery, you must not steal, you must not tell lies about others, 19you must respect your father and mother, (Quote from Ex. 20:12-16Deut. 5:16-20) and ‘love your neighbor (Quote from Lev. 19:18)”

20The young man said, “I have obeyed all these commands. What else do I need?”

21Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, then go and sell all that you own. Give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven. Then come and follow me!”

22But when the young man heard Jesus tell him to give away his money, he was sad. He didn’t want to do this, because he was very rich. So he left.

23Then Jesus said to his followers, “The truth is, it will be very hard for a rich person to enter God’s kingdom. 24Yes, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter God’s kingdom.”

The “minimimalist” is often unhappy with the minimums for acceptable obedience. In this case, the man wanted to know the minimum he could get away with in order to be considered righteous before God. The answer was unacceptable because it cost more than he was willing to do. You do not have to be rich by the worlds standards in order to be associated with this man. Anything we are not willing to give up or get rid of, condemns us by our own choosing. Whatever it is we refuse to give up in order to be a true follower of Jesus becomes an anchor dragging us down to the abyss of destruction. That is not God’s will. Obedience is forsaking ALL to follow Jesus. Anything less is sin.

That includes Patriots. Thomas Jefferson is quoted as saying, “The “Tree of Liberty” must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of PATRIOTS and TYRANTS.” It is not hard to find many people who will agree with that statement, but because they are “Minimumalist Patriots”, they condition their agreement with, “As long as it’s someone else’s blood”.

As God the Father is looking for true Heaven Patriots, He is also looking for some real “American Patriots” who set no conditions to their commitment in their fight for freedom. Unfortunately, finding those Patriots are hard. Yes, we can find many of them who have volunteered for the military. But what about the rest of us?

I have taken the pledge to give all to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. As a Marine, I pledged my honor and life to defend the United States and the Constitution of the same. At 67 years of age, that commitment has not waned. How about you? What is your commitment to the recovery of our country? Are you a “Minimumalist”, or a Tree of Liberty Patriot?