Sunday, July 08, 2012

Today's Reading - Matthew 19:16-28

Matthew 19:23-26

New Living Translation (NLT)
23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.24 I’ll say it again—it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!”
25 The disciples were astounded. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked.
26 Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.”

On our own, we can never be saved because Jesus will always ask for our all... including (especially!) the one thing we most do not want to give up.

The only way we will be able to give up that one thing is to give Jesus our heart and let him change us from the inside out... at the very core of who we are.

Jeremiah 17:9 says I do not even know my own heart. How can I change a heart that deceives me? Only the Lord knows my heart and only he can change it. All I can do is give my heart to the Lord and let the Holy Spirit change me. (When I do this, when I truly surrender my heart to the Lord, he DOES change it and my heart is no longer deceitful and wicked...I am changed! 2 Corinthians 5:17)