Sold Out

It's been said that sin will take you farther than you want to go, deeper than you had ever imagined and cost you more than you thought possible. But, may I also say that the sold out Christian life will catapult you into water so deep you will literally be in over your head. The sold out Christian life WILL  lead you into the back side of the wilderness at times (just as Jesus was) and it WILL cost you your whole life. Compared to living a life of sin and self-centeredness the life of a sold out Christian life is beyond hard, it's impossible without the Lord holding our hands through each and every step of the way. It's no wonder so many non-Christians don't want to commit, and why so many Christians don't want to sell out.  

It’s the very reason why in Matthew 19: 21-22 Jesus told the rich young man...

“If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
“When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.”

This section of scripture is interesting because of just one little word.  It begins with an “if” statement. So, in other words, Christ is giving this rich young man a choice. Christ also gives us that same choice to sell out or bail out. However,  when we choose, Jesus tells us that we absolutely must “go” out, “sell” out, “give” out and “follow” Him. How many of us are really willing to sell out, give out, go out, and truly, wholeheartedly follow Christ? Do we really even want to? It is hard to sell everything for the sake of the gospel. Speaking from personal experience, there will be people around you who do not understand what you are doing and why you are doing it. When we sell out for the sake of Christ, we will leave people flabbergasted and scratching their heads. Sometimes even other Christians around us will not agree with our decision. But if Christ says “go,” then we must GO and not look at the expressions on the faces of those around us. We absolutely must keep our eyes focused on the face of Christ.  My family has gotten a small glimpse of this one. As you all know, we have gone through a major life change. We not only sold our house, but we sold so many of our personal belongings as well. We liquidated pretty much an entire household of stuff. And honestly, it left people thinking we had lost our minds. All I could do was try not to think about what others were thinking and focus on what we knew God has spoken to our hearts. God has spoken to our hearts that it was time to go and that “the cloud is moving.” Let me tell you when your cloud is moving you better move with it, otherwise, you will find yourself without the covering of Christ and that is one very dangerous place to be!  

When we examine the response of this rich young man we see that he was not willing to sell out for Christ. He was not willing to leave behind the cares of this world to invest in the cares of the kingdom. The sin of self-centeredness had taken him farther than he had planned to go. He was not willing to immerse himself in the deep waters of Christ. He only wanted to dabble in the shallow waters of self. And as scripture tells us it left him feeling sad.

A life not completely sold out to Christ will leave us feeling empty. There is nothing that can replace the peace and joy that comes from fulfilling the call of Christ on your life. I want to encourage you that when Christ beckons you out of the comfort of everything you have ever known. Do not be afraid to go. You never know what might happen. You might even find yourself walking on water.

Lord, I pray that as you call us to come deeper that we come without any hesitation. Helps us to learn from this rich young man who was too scared to sell out for the sake of the kingdom. Help us to sell out, go out, give out and follow after you with every ounce of our being.