Matthew 19:29-30 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.
I had read a book a while ago, and it was about a group of missionaries who had gone to preach the gospel to the tribespeople in the Amazon rainforest. Along with preaching, they had begun helping the tribes to build better homes, create better wells, and give them better clothes.
But there was one thing that stuck in my mind over all of the other things. The missionaries had given those tribes some seeds like wheat and corn for them to plant, raise, and harvest to procure more food, but instead of planting those seeds and doing just that, do you know what they did with those seeds? They ate them! Instead of giving those seeds up to be planted in the ground so they could produce more, they chose to eat them right there and then. They could have had hundreds of times more than what they started with in just a few months time, but they didn’t. They had made the decision to eat what they had right then.
Some people just want to have things right now. They want to have everything the they can while here on this Earth, right now. Instead of giving up certain things while they are here on the Earth, they would rather get all that they can right now. But the Bible teaches us that when people choose to place the things of the world first they will be missing out on multiple times more that they could have received if they had simply placed Christ first before themselves.
Mark 8:34-37 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
When we become a Christian it means that we need to abide by the teachings that our Lord has set for us. We need to be obedient to His will, and to do this we must be able to place Him in the place of utmost importance in our lives. What does this mean? It means that we must be able to deny ourselves, and “take up our cross” to serve and follow Him.
It is a promise of the Lord that we will receive multiple blessings, thirty, sixty, one hundred times over. But we must be able to deny ourselves the things of this Earth if they are things that will lead us away from the Lord. And not just things such as money or other possessions, but even your closest family and friends, if need be. This is of course not something that we desire to do, but if those people around us are going to be a hindrance or stumblingblock to our faith in Jesus Christ, then we must do as Jesus taught, and deny ourselves by separating ourselves from them, so that we may save our souls.
What you are doing essentially is storing up life in Heaven when we can deny ourselves. In a bank, for example, you may deposit some of your money into an account, and that money will, over time, create interest, and eventually you will end up with more than you initially deposited. You may not have access to it for a certain amount of time as it sits in the bank, but you will reap the rewards later. We may have to make sacrifices during our life as a Christian, but just like the money in the bank, it will be accumulating, and growing over time, and someday we will reap the rewards of our sacrifices for the Lord. Trust me, it will be well worth the wait.
In Christ
Andrew
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 