What is the extent of our comfort zone? When was the last time we ventured out of it? When Jesus tells the young man to observe the commandments of God in order to attain eternal life and he says that he has been doing so, he asks Jesus a further question: “What do I still lack?” As the popular song goes, “It’s the one who won’t be taken, who cannot seem to give. And the soul afraid of dying that never learns to live.”
If we want to be true followers of Jesus, then we have to let go and let ourselves be taken away. If we want to be swept off our feet, then we have to give Jesus the first and best shot at our lives. Unless the grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Let us not be afraid. It is in dying that we are born to eternal life, and this life is Jesus himself: the way, the truth, and the life.
Keeping up with other people or our neighbors or co-workers, is not the meaning of life. If we wish to be perfect, in other words, if we want to be truly happy, then we should live for God and set our hearts on the things that last forever: faith, hope, and love. Let us not forget that the more things we own, the more those things own us.
Let us be good stewards and use what God has given us to bring others closer to God. Let us be detached from creature comforts so that we can serve God in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, in plenty and in scarcity, all the days of our lives. This is the goal and purpose of our life.
