13-Oct-24 (Mark 10:17-31)

I want you to think of your most favorite thing. You don't need to tell us what it is, but I want you to think of something you really, really like.
Now, imagine that someone told you that you have to give it away. You can't keep it anymore. You have to give it up. How would that make you feel? [wait for answers]
Jesus met a man in our gospel story for today whose favorite thing of all was all his money... and he had a lot of money. Still, he felt like he was missing something, so he asked Jesus what he had to do to live forever with God.
Jesus told him, "It's just one thing. You have to give up your money. You have to give away what you have and give it to the poor." The man couldn't do it.
Well no wonder. It was his favorite thing. You know how it would feel if Jesus asked you to give up your favorite thing.
Now, don't think I'm telling you that you have to go home and pack up your favorite thing and drop it off at Good Will. What Jesus was saying to the man in the story was that his favorite thing was distracting him and keeping him from doing the things that God wanted him to do. So it was better for him to give that up than to keep being distracted and keep not doing what God wanted.
If there's anything in your life that keeps your attention away from doing what God wants, then it would be better for you to give it up.
Let's pray about that.

Prayer

God, we thank you for sending us Jesus to help us to realize how important it is to love you and to show your love to others. Help us not to be distracted from doing that. And God, if there is something that we have or like to do, even if it's our favorite thing in all the world, don't let it distract us from you. And if it does, help us to give it up so we can be the people you want us to be.
We pray in Jesus' name. AMEN