In The Master's Service

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Sell that ye have

Elder Mark Green

"But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth." (Luke 12:31-34).

Our main concern in life must be the kingdom of God. We are to seek that first; it is to have priority over all other concerns in life. In order to do that, we must have faith and courage. If we are fearful, we will never be able to obey this commandment of our Lord. So, Jesus encourages us that, although we are a "little flock," although we have no strength of our own, God is with us and will give us the kingdom, not by our might, but by His. We are to be busy about the things He has given us to do, and leave divine providence and the government of the universe to Him. We do not need to be fearful to place the kingdom of God first in our lives.

Sometimes ministers must speak about passages of Scripture concerning the commands of which we must confess we are abject failures. Verse 34 is such a passage for me. My faith is not that great. I wish it were, and I desire that it might grow, but right now I am far from this Biblical standard. We are told to "sell that ye have, and give alms." This means that we are to be willing to use our natural resources in a charitable way, even if it might, for all we are able to see, place us in personal jeopardy as far as having the necessary things of life is concerned. What a hard thing to do! How greatly this conflicts with the flesh! I have not done it. I confess that.

We want to know that we will have enough money, etc., to face tomorrow's requirements. The problem with that is that we could never be sure that would be true, no matter how much wealth we possessed. We put money in a bag, so to speak, but that bag has a hole in it, and it will never be full enough to satisfy our lack of faith. Jesus tells us to put our money into a different sort of bag. By trusting in God and obeying His com mands to be unselfish, we are laying up treasure in heaven. That bag will never wax old, for it is the grace, power and wisdom of God. Do we think that He lied to us when He said this? Do we question that God has the power and wisdom to care for us? Do we think He will fail to do it? "Oh ye of little faith," He said to the disciples, and much more it could be said to me. How weak I am, and how far short of the mark I find myself!