Abba’s Priority Is Intimacy
(5 minutes)
As Jesus started on his way, a man came running up to him. Kneeling down in front of him, he cried out, "Good Teacher, what one thing am I required to do to gain eternal life?" Jesus responded, "Why do you call me good? Only God is truly good. You already know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give a false testimony, do not cheat, and honor your father and mother.'" The man said to Jesus, "Teacher, I have carefully obeyed these laws since my youth." Jesus fixed his gaze upon the man, with tender love, and said to him, "Yet there is still one thing in you lacking. Go, sell all that you have and give the money to the poor. Then all of your treasure will be in heaven. After you've done this, come back and walk with me." Completely shocked by Jesus' answer, he turned and walked away very sad, for he was extremely rich. (Mark 10:17-22)
Why would Jesus pinpoint this one thing in the rich, young ruler?
Remember what Pastor Tim said about this on Sunday: "God's judgments are aimed at everything that hinders intimacy with you and Him. His priority is not comfort. His priority is intimacy."
Jesus goes straight to the heart of the issue with this man because He desires a deeper relationship with him. It's the same with us. Jesus, moved by tender love, is coming after everything that is getting in the way of our intimacy with Him. Sometimes we are not even aware of these things, but as we keep walking with Abba, He addresses them and gives us grace to enter into a new level of trust and intimacy in our relationship with Him. That's exactly what these moments are...opportunities to go deeper in our relationship with Him.
The rich, young ruler loved God. He would not have run towards Jesus and asked this kind of question had he not loved God. He was concerned about the wrong things because he still had a broken image of the Father, but there was still a love for God. What happened in this moment was the rich, young ruler had the veil pulled back on something that rivaled and was competing with his love for God. There's a quote I remember that deals with this very thing: "We give up things we love for things we love even more." The rich, young ruler walks away sad because he has just been shown by Abba's grace that there was something ruining the vineyard of his love for God. There was another love competing for first place. A love that was such a strong contender to his love for God that it caused him to question everything.
Are we convinced of Abba's goodness to the degree that we could ask Him a really honest, vulnerable question today?
Abba, what in my life, if You asked me to give it up, would cause me to walk away sad?
Abba, is there another love in my life that is competing for first place with You?
Remember, Abba's priority is intimacy. Abba's priority is that your sole source of comfort would be Him, and nothing else. He doesn't want your identity in the hands of anything else. Because He knows that your identity is not safe in the hands of anything else. So His judgments are aimed at everything that is hindering your deep love for and trust in Him.
Where do these lesser loves fall away? How do they get dealt with? In the light of His presence. Our abiding and remaining in the light that surrounds Him is the thing that will deal most effectively with the dark thinking that still remains in us.
This is the life-giving message we heard him share and it's still ringing in our ears. We now repeat his words to you: God is pure light. You will never find even a trace of darkness in him. If we claim that we share life with him, but keep walking in the realm of darkness, we're fooling ourselves and not living the truth. But if we keep living in the pure light that surrounds him, we share unbroken fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, continually cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:5-7)
As we take the walk with Abba today, we are saying "Yes!" to living in the pure light that surrounds Him. And it's that light, the radiant light of His presence, that will deal with the lesser loves that still remain in our heart. And know that if Abba chooses to expose that thing in our hearts, it's His open invitation to walk in a deeper measure of intimacy with Him. He would never expose something and not give you all the grace and permission you need to exit that way of life, so you can enter into the abundant life that He has for you. You can trust Him!
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Worship: "First Love" by Josh Baldwin
Honor: Give Online to The Wilderness Place
Share With Us: We would love to hear how you're encountering Abba in your daily walks. Don't hesitate to share what you're hearing, seeing, or sensing in His presence. Email us here!
