July 30

“Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." (Mark 10:21 NIV)

The young couple was setting off on their honeymoon – to a far off place. The parents drove them to the airport and joked about them having forgotten their passports at home. But no, they produced and checked them. The man’s passport looked bright and almost unused. The young wife’s passport appeared to have been laying in the shower for a week, and the parents became a bit concerned due their knowledge regarding the strict restrictions for arriving passengers in the chosen destination country.

When the travel documents were examined on check-in the parents drew a sigh of relief when the wife’s document inspection was completed. Even more surprising though was when the journey suddenly appeared grounded due a small error in the young man’s passport. One page was not secured properly. It was a quick dash to the police and an hour-long anxious wait until the couple finally boarded their aircraft seconds before the lift-off.

It can be the same in our lives, that a disheveled exterior can appear totally OK; while life on the outside appears attractive and well ordered, the inner life is lacking something essential. ”One thing you lack”, it says in today’s verse. One – is too much…

Prayer

Lord, help us to watch over our lives in order that we not fool ourselves to believe that all is well while still lacking something in our inner being. Help us dare give our lives over fully to You and allow You to heal and repair that which is broken.