Day 193
Matthew 19:29
"And everyone that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother or wife, or children, or lands,
for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold return, and shall inherit everlasting life."
When Jesus told His disciples the reward they would receive for forsaking relatives and natural things for His sake, He was doing more than just informing them of the return on their investment. He was giving them a lesson in values.
Jesus said the blessing one would receive for choosing Christ over everyone and everything else was a hundred times more valuable than what they forsook. What is Jesus worth to us? He is worth at least a hundred times more than anything or anyone we have. It would do us good to ponder that a while and adjust our value systems if we need to. Of course, we cannot actually measure the worth of Christ to us. However, a hundred times anything we own is enough to illustrate the point. For example, which of us would hold on to one car if we could get a hundred cars instead? What a great blessing we could be if we had that many automobiles! In addition to using some of them personally, we could give some away, loan some to others, or form a rental company and use the profits to eliminate all our debts. The prospect of owning a hundred cars makes the one we have seem almost worthless. We could own a very expensive car, but all of a sudden we would probably perceive its value differently.
When we have to choose between God and people or things, let us bear in mind that the value of people and things does not compare to the value of Jesus and eternal life. Even when it comes to relatives we hold dear, the reward of choosing Christ far surpasses the benefit of any family bond. Furthermore, our testimony demonstrating the value of Christ could very well be the thing that causes those family members to accept Him. Then, those family members would return to us and be far more valuable than they were before we left them.
Regardless of who or what comes between me and Jesus,1 will choose Christ. He is more valuable to me than anyone or anything.