Out of Order
Out of Order
Scripture
18 A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’[a]”
21 “All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.
22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
23 When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy.
- Luke 18:18-23
Devotion
A few weeks ago our family received a Rubik’s cube. For those of you who are unfamiliar, a Rubik’s cube is a six sided cube with each side comprised of nine individual colored pieces. The goal is to solve all six faces of the cube so the colors align. The problem is that all the pieces are connected to one another and when you move one piece on the cube, it also moves all the pieces that are connected to it.
It’s a puzzle that always drove me crazy as kid, because as soon as you felt like you made any progress in solving it, it would require you to seemingly dismantle your progress in order to reach the next step. If you’re anything like me, you know how frustrating it can be to feel like you’ve worked on something just to see it undone moments later.
I imagine that’s much of what this rich young ruler was feeling when he had this conversation with Jesus. He had organized the pieces of his life in a way that from many sides it looked almost complete. Then Jesus said “You still lack one thing”, and then he told him to take all the pieces, all the progress, and mix it all up so that he could have what he was really looking for, eternal life.
If you have been following Jesus you know how God can jumble up the sides of our lives. What’s important to remember is that when God moves around the pieces of our lives in a way that feels completely out of order, contrary to what we have built, he’s doing it so he can reorder us into a more complete picture.
If you want to solve a Rubik’s cube, you have to break up some of your progress, put some pieces out of order for a time, so that you can move on to completion. The same is true of our journey with Christ, let him disorder your life because you trust he knows exactly how to put you back together again; More complete, more alive, more like him.
-Pastor Mitch
Discussion Question
Prayer
Jesus, I give my whole life to you. Everything that I have accomplished, I give you permission to tear it down if it will make me a better disciple. Amen.
Scripture
18 A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’[a]”
21 “All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.
22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
23 When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy.
- Luke 18:18-23
Devotion
A few weeks ago our family received a Rubik’s cube. For those of you who are unfamiliar, a Rubik’s cube is a six sided cube with each side comprised of nine individual colored pieces. The goal is to solve all six faces of the cube so the colors align. The problem is that all the pieces are connected to one another and when you move one piece on the cube, it also moves all the pieces that are connected to it.
It’s a puzzle that always drove me crazy as kid, because as soon as you felt like you made any progress in solving it, it would require you to seemingly dismantle your progress in order to reach the next step. If you’re anything like me, you know how frustrating it can be to feel like you’ve worked on something just to see it undone moments later.
I imagine that’s much of what this rich young ruler was feeling when he had this conversation with Jesus. He had organized the pieces of his life in a way that from many sides it looked almost complete. Then Jesus said “You still lack one thing”, and then he told him to take all the pieces, all the progress, and mix it all up so that he could have what he was really looking for, eternal life.
If you have been following Jesus you know how God can jumble up the sides of our lives. What’s important to remember is that when God moves around the pieces of our lives in a way that feels completely out of order, contrary to what we have built, he’s doing it so he can reorder us into a more complete picture.
If you want to solve a Rubik’s cube, you have to break up some of your progress, put some pieces out of order for a time, so that you can move on to completion. The same is true of our journey with Christ, let him disorder your life because you trust he knows exactly how to put you back together again; More complete, more alive, more like him.
-Pastor Mitch
Discussion Question
- What is one side of your life that you need to surrender to Jesus to reorder so that you can be a more complete disciple?
Prayer
Jesus, I give my whole life to you. Everything that I have accomplished, I give you permission to tear it down if it will make me a better disciple. Amen.
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