Walk and Talk with the Lord #23

We pick up today where we left off yesterday, in Mark 10, when Jesus was on this journey with His followers, when the rich young man came up to Him. Having been shown how poor his priorities were, the man chose to walk away depressed, instead of trusting and following Jesus:  

23 And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” 28 Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” 29 Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” 

We could stand to hear more of this message about our trusting in riches in this affluent society in which we live, but there is one brief statement that sticks out to me here: Peter's interruption: "But we have left everything and followed you."  Jesus interrupts him back: "What you have left behind is nothing compared to what you've gained." Lots of time our walks and talks with Jesus are complaining sessions, where we justify our lives by comparing and contrasting them to others. Here Jesus humbles Peter, and that's one of the things we need most in our talks with the Lord. We forget that we are in the presence of the Holy One, and complain how righteous we are, how much we deserve, and how much we do not deserve some of the things that happen to us. God welcomes our complaint, but if we do not walk away humbled, submissive and thankful, we've missed out on the most important thing.