And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. Mark 10:18 ESV
Yesterday our Scripture reminded us of the importance of our thought life and that we are to think about good, pure, right and lovely things. To which brings to mind things like a beautiful sunset, a newborn baby, a warm home on a snowy day, a smile when we’re feeling down, and the list goes on.
But today’s Scripture puts yesterdays verse in true perspective with one word, good. The man addressed Jesus as “Good Teacher”, to which Jesus replied, only God alone is good. What was the purpose of this answer? Because the man didn’t see Him as God, he only saw Him as a teacher, but Jesus knew His heart. Jesus went on to remind him of the last six of the Ten Commandments and very pridefully he said he kept all of them. But then Jesus changed the focus away from the “works” he did to his relationship with God and it says he walked away sad.
Jesus showed him that he was self-righteous, that all the things he did was to bring glory to himself. When he had to focus on God as the first four Commandments directed, he couldn’t follow through. So let’s think again about yesterday’s verse when Paul tells us to think on what is good, pure, right, lovely, honorable and praise worthy, before anything else He’s telling us to think about Abba God, because they describe Him perfectly.
Now that we know that we not only have control over our thoughts and that Scripture directs us what and Who to think about we will now focus on Jesus the only One who opens the way to the Father. As we focus on His love for us and all He is we will see ourselves being truly transformed into His image day by day as we continue our journey.
Transitional thought: Whatever we focus our attention on is what will dominate our thoughts (Proverbs 23:7). If our thoughts are dominated by the things of this world then we are going to get worldly results in our lives. We need to focus on God to get godly results. Andrew Wommack
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