Mark 10:29-30 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields– and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.
The context of this verse surrounds Jesus’ discussion of how hard it is for a rich person to enter into the kingdom of Heaven because they are unwilling to give it all up, putting complete trust in God. The only thing needed for salvation: faith, not works.
The thing I want to focus on in this verse is the idea of “who has left.”
“who has left”- meaning to totally separate from like a divorce. It’s letting something go, or leaving it behind to the point of neglecting it and letting it happen. The word is used in Mark 15:37 when Jesus let go a loud cry before he died on the cross. Jesus used it in Luke 7:47 to show the forgiveness of sins (there’s a good message right there).
What does it mean to truly give it all up for Christ and allow His message to be proclaimed?
I think of people in Acts that sold everything they had and gave it to the apostles for the sake of the spread of the Gospel.
I wonder if there is any significance of Jesus not saying leaving your wife/husband. Divorce was never encouraged. And doing ministry is exponentially enhanced with the support of a wife/husband. Ministry is exponentially destructive without the support of a wife/husband. Marriage has always been likened to the marriage of Jesus and the church. So at this point, I’m assuming marriage was left off this list for a reason.
but what is left on this list is amazing to really put into practice. How have you or have you really given up your close loved ones and your big earthly possessions so that the Gospel of Christ can be spread?
If not, you may not experience the blessing of receiving it back a hundred fold now and in eternity. I’m not proclaiming a prosperity theology, but there’s something to giving things up for God out of faith and love and His desire to bless you and reward you for your commitment. There’s something to letting your money go when you think you don’t have any to give. There’s something to not seeing your life blessed by God by holding on to things.
Let it go.
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You know, Steve, you mentioned a variety of people who you think of…
I have to tell you, the people I think of are a couple who left their homeland in Iowa to pour themselves into a little church in central Massachusetts. Their actions are often unsung but have impacted more people than they could ever know.