By the Rev. Willie Denson

“Then Jesus beholding him loved him. And said unto him, ‘One thing thou lackest, go thou way, sell whatsoever thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shall have treasure in heaven: and come take up the cross and follow me.’” Mark 10:21(KJV)

Many of us have been successful in our lives.

We have set out to accomplish certain goals and have seen them come into fruition.

We have gone to school, studied and prepared so that when the opp-ortunity that we were looking for comes, we are ready.

Sometimes, we look back on our lives obtained and see so many missed opportunities.

Many times we were not able to see through the fog of all that we had already acquired or we were afraid of risking what we already had obtained.

So, we find ourselves looking back with regret and wondering what may have been accomplished.

In this passage of scripture, a rich young ruler asked Jesus how he may obtain eternal life.

Jesus simply tells him to keep the commandments, to which the young man responds that he has since his youth.

Even though Jesus knew better, he had great compassion and love towards the young man, for he saw that he had sincerely tried and really thought he had kept all the comma-ndments.

That is when Jesus gives him the opportunity of a lifetime.

Jesus tells him to go and sell all that you have, give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven.

Jesus further instructs him to take up your cross and follow me.

The scripture say that the young man went away sad because he had great possessions.

He was given the opportunity of a lifetime but he did not see the value in Jesus offer.

How many of us will not know the value of what Jesus offers us today.

How many of us will spend our lives gathering possessions, building bank accounts and ignore Jesus call to take up our cross and follow him.

Don’t miss the opportunity of a lifetime.

 

-The Rev. Willie Denson is a member of the ministerial association.