"And every one that has left houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit eternal life."
Gospel of Matthew
In the Acts of the Apostles, we read that the whole group of believers in Christ were united heart and soul to the point that everything that they owned was shared in common. This group of believers seem ready to risk everything to follow this new fervor of Spirit and inner enthusiasm for the Lord.
When the apostles were arrested by the chief priests and those in authority, Peter's answer to them sums up the reason for their actions. "We must obey God rather than any human authority. We are witnesses to the things that we proclaim, and so it is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him."
These believers were now living Jesus' earlier teachings found in Matthew Chapter 19. "And every one that has left houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit eternal life."
It is through these readings and teachings that we begin to understand the links that exist between our prevailing attitudes and actions and Jesus' teaching about salvation. It becomes a question of where our loyalties lie. Are we focused on the world and what it has to offer - possessions, pleasure, praise, and fame - or are we willing to risk all that in order to be obedient to that deeper truth that lies in each of our hearts, that voice of the Holy Spirit that speaks often silently to each of us as we take the time to listen?
To risk all that is front of us, that can be seen, for that which cannot be seen, is faith. Saint Paul proclaimed many times: "It is through faith in God, our faith in Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit that binds us in a relationship of love with the One that gives true peace that we seek".
As Jesus would explain to Nicodemus in the Gospel of John, the world is not an evil place. It is not something to be avoided at all costs. So we have no obligation to sell off everything that we own and live a life of a hermit to prove our love for God. This would be very impractical for any of us with families and a needs to support them. It comes down to where our loyalties lie, and to what we are principally attached. Is it to the world and all that it contains, or is it to our faith in God? Our faith in Christ?
If we are attached only to the things of the world and what it has to offer, then we are in fact cutting ourselves off from the light of Christ. We show we have preference, not to that which leads to hope and new life, to light, but to darkness. But the person who lives by the truth of the Gospel, comes out of that darkness into the light where the life of the Spirit becomes the reality.
Jesus' Spirit makes us mature and generous in our spiritual outlook and daily conduct. He teaches us to enjoy intelligently our earthly goods and the legitimate pleasures placed at our disposal. On the other hand, let us never be so dependent on these earthy comforts so as to reject Christ's invitation to come closer to Him in order to be directed by His wisdom and strength.
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