Follow Jesus: Deal or No Deal | HealthWealthVictory
Everyday, there’s a choice we have to make. Like the young man in this gospel, we, each of us, have to answer this question for ourselves: Follow Jesus – deal or no deal?
17 He was setting out on a journey when a man ran up, knelt before him and put this question to him, ‘Good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’
18 Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 19 You know the commandments: You shall not kill; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not give false witness; You shall not defraud; Honour your father and mother.’
20 And he said to him, ‘Master, I have kept all these since my earliest days.’
21 Jesus looked steadily at him and he was filled with love for him, and he said, ‘You need to do one thing more. Go and sell what you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’
22 But his face fell at these words and he went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth.
Deal or No Deal
I remember that game show before that I and my family really enjoy watching: Deal or No Deal.
There’s a briefcase and a banker’s offer. The contestant must choose whether or not to accept the banker’s offer.
If he thinks that what’s inside the briefcase is greater than the banker’s offer, he decides on “no deal”.
If on the other hand, he’s confident the banker’s offer is greater than what’s in the briefcase, he takes the “deal”.
In today’s Gospel reading, a deal-or-no-deal situation is happening.
A rich young man wants to inherit eternal life and comes to Jesus to ask Him how to get it.
Jesus told him to follow the commandments. I’m faithful since I was young, countered the young man.
That must be true because Jesus looked at him with tenderness and love.
Jesus knew exactly what was in this young man’s heart. He knew what this man was lacking.
One thing more.
That’s when Jesus, like the banker in the game show, made the offer:
21 Jesus looked steadily at him and he was filled with love for him, and he said, ‘You need to do one thing more. Go and sell what you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’
Deal or no deal.
Sadly, we all know what happened.
He chose the briefcase. Not the Banker’s offer.
To follow Jesus
If we only know what it means to have Jesus and to follow Him, we’d give everything up in a heartbeat.
But oftentimes we don’t have faith. We don’t believe that with Jesus, we have everything!
Life to the full in this lifetime and eternal life in the next.
Jesus is the Treasure of heaven. He’s the Son, Heir to everything the Father has.
When we follow Jesus, we are adopted into this awesome super ultra rich Family and become heirs with Him.
Can you believe that? What can be better than that?
I think just having Jesus and being with Him for eternity, that’s what!
The Deal
When we accept and follow Jesus, God becomes our Father and for every need, and even wants we have, we only have to open our mouth and He will fill it.
But here’s the deal: we must choose to follow Him.
Forsake everything and follow Him.
And God knows what exactly is in your heart. He knows the “one thing more” you need to do.
For this young man, Jesus knew it was his wealth.
For others, it’s family, a job, a boyfriend or girlfriend, bad company, addiction to anything, a hobby.
Anything and everything that we hold dear above Him.
Because the thing is, He gives us everything. And so He asks for everything we have.
The choice
Everyday, we are asked to make a choice.
Follow Jesus or follow self.
That’s the challenge. That’s the offer.
Follow Jesus: deal or no deal.
And it doesn’t have to be life-altering situations. Like what happened to me.
Yesterday since it’s Sunday, I’ve committed not to work until after sundown.
So I spent the day just relaxing, watching TV with my family, and then we went to mass.
But when we came back, I continued to watch TV cause I was hooked on these reaction videos on YouTube.
My sister kept reminding me to work as I said because I have an upcoming deadline for work on Tues.
And I know I still have to publish my blog for that day.
Still, I chose to continue. Cause it’s so fun watching those videos. I just kept saying, one more, Lord.
Well, that went on until 11:30 pm, my bedtime, when I knew I had to stop and at least publish my blog.
Needles to say, I slept at 1 am again when I should have rested hours earlier.
Now I’m feeling the lack of sleep while writing this.
I almost didn’t wake up this morning in time for the mass. Good thing my sister woke me up.
See? These deal-or-no-deal situations could just sneak up on us without us being aware.
It’s not as big as giving away all my treasures but I was still asked to follow Jesus and I didn’t, choosing to follow my self and my desires.
It’s always a choice: follow Jesus or follow what you want.
The priest in his homily said, every day we are asked to choose:
The Creator or the creation; the temporary or what’s eternal, your self or Jesus.
He said when it comes down to this, when we have to make a choice, it must be Jesus.
Now your turn
So what will it be for you:
Give everything you have and follow Jesus – deal or no deal?
The Banker or the briefcase?
To follow Jesus or follow self?
Follow Jesus, The Treasure of Heaven. Then you’ll have everything!
- Take the deal and follow Jesus
- Give everything you have
- Receive everything from Jesus, the Treasure of heaven.
Dear Lord,
Help me choose you in every situation. In every deal or no deal situation I’m faced with, no matter how trivial it may seem, help me always to take the deal and follow You. In Jesus’ Name.
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This is it for now. Till next time.
To our health, wealth, and victory – GODSPEED!
