One Way Or The Other (Mark 10:24)

Trust is an important word in Christianity.  It is similar to the word faith in that it carries the idea of being convinced or persuaded.  Man's heart is the aspect of his being that contains trust.  Just as you are only able to think of one thing at a time, so your heart can only focus trust on one entity at a time.  The greatest problem that man has is recognizing his heart and what it is trusting.

In this passage we see a perfect example of one who believes that his life is pleasing to The Lord.  He questions as to what he needs to do so that he may inherit eternal life.  Jesus responded with the measuring stick of the Law.  The young man, as looking into the law, saw himself as blameless.  He may have appeared blameless on the outside, but his heart was a different matter.  The one thing that the young man lacked was not another action, but a heart that trusted the LORD and not the idol of financial security.  After his short discourse with the Lord, he is left standing at the crossroads: shall I give up everything and completely trust this Jesus or shall I hold on to what I have.  His answer revealed his heart.

Before i jump on the band wagon and attack this man, I need to ask myself the following questions.  How often have I balked on The Lord?  Since saving my soul, how often has my heart been divided against him?  How often have I been motivated by my idolatrous heart and tried to work myself out of my troubles.  How often have I focused my deliverance on a person instead of The Lord.  Am I trusting my job as security or am I really focusing on God.  To be honest, my heart is a constant battle ground.  It is not so much over whom I will trust, but recognizing when my heart has turned to trust another.  The heart is still deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jer. 17:9).

The way to victory is to stay close to The Lord, expose yourself to his word, daily submit yourself to his will and pray for him to reveal to you the unpleasing things in your heart

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.  Psalm 19:14