Taking Hold of the Kingdom of God

Mark 10:21

And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

On earth, only Jesus has achieved absolute abandonment to The Father.  Only He could.  Yet He commanded His disciples to follow Him.  He was asking them to follow the lead of their Master.  He was asking them to release their hold on the things of this earth and take hold of His kingdom.

As disciples of Jesus Christ in this age, we are also called to follow the lead of Our Master.  We are therefore called to be diligent in the constant process of releasing all of our carnal desires as we fully surrender to the will of the Father in our lives.  This is an ongoing and arduous process for each of us.  

In our time on earth, none of us will reach the point of absolute abandonment to the Father as Jesus did.  But all of us can commit ourselves to unconditional identification with Our Savior.  Through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we can continuously recognize and renounce our earthly desires.  Through the grace of Almighty God and the saving work of Jesus Christ, we can begin shedding all of our shortcomings one by one.  When we reach our place in heaven with Jesus, we will have completed the process and we will stand before the Father in the perfect and pure image of Our Savior. 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your precious love and provision.  We proclaim our love for You and humbly offer to You all that You have given us.  Father, we pray that we will be led by the Holy Spirit to surrender all that we have, all that we will every have, all that we are and all that we will ever be to You.  May we exchange the things of this earth for the treasures of Your kingdom.  May we take hold of the fullness of the eternal life in Jesus as we release our hold on our worldly possessions and desires.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Lord, Our Master and Our Eternal King, Jesus Christ.