Mark 10:26-31

Jesus was blunt: "No chance at all if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you let God do it." (Mark 10:27, The Message)

This pretty much encapsulates the whole conversation. Are you trying to pull off eternal life on your own? Or are you surrendered and surrendering daily?

This is about as bluntly as Jesus could have put it. It is some of the beautiful simplicity of the gospel. Salvation is found in Christ alone. Not to overuse a very popular saying right now (and I hope it stays that way): Jesus. All.

Not "Jesus and." That's nothing but a demonic fraud that deserves a quick trip to the garbage heap. "Jesus and" might salve pride, but it accomplishes nothing. Pride points back to who? Me.

Peter takes a different tack in this conversation and points out that they left everything to follow Jesus. Well, sort of. Some disciples did have wives (and possibly families since that kind of goes hand-in-hand much of the time) and homes, although many of them would lose those things eventually as they pursued their lives of dispossessing of themselves for Christ's sake. I again have to wonder, though: was Peter's motive in saying this much better than that man Jesus had just been talking to?

The only chance we have is "Jesus, all." Yet even Peter's statement seems to show him trying to do something, and it almost sounds like he is justifying himself a little. "Well, uh, commandment keeping (which is what we've thought would do it since birth) isn't going to do the trick, so then giving up everything is what we have to do." Sorry, Peter. Go back to verse 27.

Jesus does, however, uphold what Peter actually says, so perhaps Peter's statement is more sincere than it first looks. Anyone who gives up won't lose out. They'll get it back many times over, plus eternal life (plus big troubles on earth). It's interesting that "eternal life," in The Message, is called a "bonus." The meat of the payback is being with Jesus, whether in this life or the one to come.

My takeaways...

• Surrender salvation to Jesus. "Jesus, only" can accomplish eternal life. I have no chance through commandment keeping, my efforts, or even my action of dispossessing of what I have. If it has to do with what I do, it falls woefully short of acquiring it. Every chance in the world is found in complete, daily surrender.
• Surrender all I have to Jesus. Really, all I have is what He gave me in the first place, so do I really have anything? I'm but a caretaker for a little while. Marriage? Children? Extended family? Friends? Pets? Home? Everything inside that home? Car(s)? Job? (we can't go far enough with this). None of it's mine to begin with. If it's getting in the way of following Jesus, I've made something terrible of it and abused the privilege. The solution? Surrender it back to Him. That might mean losing it completely. This is a matter of intense prayer. I believe, however, when we put anything we have before One, He'll help us know what to do with it, even to the point of walking away from it, and He'll give the strength necessary to do it. I'm actually thinking that it would be wise to do this with my dearest possessions on a daily basis. Surrender them. Ask the One what I should do with them. Listen. Obey.

Father, my life is Yours. I surrender. I depend on Jesus only today. Transform me, and remove anything in my life that hinders that process and the life of following You. Take me to the cross, but bring me through a resurrection experience today. Holy Spirit, baptize me and give me a completely different life, enabled to walk away from anything of the old existence and into the new.

Fling laboring harvesters into Your harvest field. Begin with me!