Covenant thoughts

I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal.

Following on from yesterday’s devotional, we pick up from where we left Jesus and his conversation with the Rich Young Ruler. Given the challenge Jesus made we read, “But when he heard this, he was greatly distressed for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw how his face fell, he remarked, “How difficult it is for those who have great possessions to enter the kingdom of God! A camel could squeeze through the eye of a needle more easily than a rich man could get into the kingdom of God.” Luke 18:22-24

During a retreat at the Taizé compound in France, a young person shared a remarkable discovery. He said: “Back home, surrounded by all my possessions, I often feel uncertain about many things. Here, with only a backpack, in the company of people who want to be together in the presence of God, I feel rich in every way. With the prayers, the songs, the silence, and the honest conversations about faith and life, I have everything I need.”

It was Martin Luther who said, “I have held many things in my hands and I have lost them all; But whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.”

Great God of Heaven and Earth,

you call us to leave behind our preoccupations

and to follow you into the future.

Sometimes we find your call challenging.

We are comfortable, maybe even complacent, 

in our present.

May this act of giving be a gesture of our willingness

to follow where you lead.

In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.