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Review your items sold from this past week. Mediate on the following paragraph from “Radical” by David Platt:
“‘One thing you lack. Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’ Jesus was clearly exposing this man’s allegiance to his possessions. Following Jesus would involve total trust in him, an abandonment of everything the man owned. Fundamentally, the rich man needed a new heart, one that was radically transformed by the gospel. I think there are two common errors people make when they read this passage. First, some try to universalize Jesus’ words, saying that he always commands his followers to sell everything they have and give to the poor. But the New Testament doesn’t support this…This causes many of us to breathe a sigh of relief. But before we sigh too deeply, we need to see the other error in interpreting Mark 10, which is to assume that Jesus never calls his followers to abandon all their possessions to follow him. If Mark 10 teaches anything, it teaches us that Jesus does sometimes call people to sell everything they have and give it to the poor. This means he might call you or me to do this. I love the way one writer put it. He wrote, ‘That Jesus did not command all his followers to sell all their possessions gives comfort only to the kind of people to whom he would issue that command’.” (p. 119-120)
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Commit this passage to memory: “Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that…For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil…” (1 Timothy 6:6-8,10)
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Identify a thought, or worry, that has distracted your focus of faith. Commit to “selling” that worry today, and “give” the energy to an act of faith.
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“Jesus looked at him and loved him. ‘One thing you lack…Go and sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’” (Mark 10:21)
“You can’t change the past, but you can ruin the present by worrying about the future.”
Identify something in your life that has been taking time away from more important things. Commit to “selling” that time and “give” it to someone who deserves more of your time.
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“Jesus looked at him and loved him. ‘One thing you lack…Go and sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’” (Mark 10:21)
“Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you can’t get more time.”
“Don’t count every hour in the day, make every hour in the day count.”
Read the following passage from the gospel of Mark. Name one item that can become a distraction to your dependence upon God. Should you “sell?”
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“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?’
‘Why do you call me good?’ Jesus answered. ‘No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’
‘Teacher,’ he declared, ‘all these I have kept since I was a boy.’
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.’
At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.” (Mark 10:17-22)
Think about the “hero” you identified yesterday…what were they willing to fight for?
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“War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.” (John Stuart Mill)
In every interaction today, begin by acknowledging something positive about the other person - even if you must correct an error.
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“It is an old and true maxim ‘that a drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gall.’ So with men, if you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend. Therein is a drop of honey tha catches his heart; which, say what you will, is the great high road to his reason.” (Abraham Lincoln)
Add to your knowledge…
Commit this passage to memory: “Consider it pure JOY, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.” (James 1:2-3)
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Watch your favorite funny movie or show with someone else.
*If you do not have access to a television, be creative. Find a way to laugh with someone.
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“To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special.” (Jim Valvano)
