Mark 10:28-31 God Alone Receives the Last

The Text

Mark 10:28-31 (CSB)
²⁸ Peter began to tell him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.”

²⁹ “Truly I tell you,” Jesus said, “there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the gospel,

³⁰ who will not receive a hundred times more, now at this time—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and eternal life in the age to come.

³¹ But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

The Devotion

Mark 1-9 shows us the works of Christ that he has done to save his people from their sins with the exception of two things: his death and resurrection.

Through the gospel, you might and should be asking yourself, "Who does God the Father wants in his kingdom?"

Mark 10 gives us that answer by summing up the heart of the Father throughout the entire Bible:

• God wants the widow, the single, the lonely Mark 10:1-12
• God wants the orphan, the fatherless, the abandoned Mark 10:13-16
• God wants the brokenhearted, unloved, uncherished Mark 10:17-22
• God wants the lost, homeless, stranger, alien, the immigrant in a strange land Mark 10:23-27

What is the common denominator between those people groups? The downtroden. The helpless. The most vulnerable. I will put it in the most apt way: not only the least of us but the last of us.

You have heard it countless times before:

• Christ came for the sick and not the healthy

Luke 5:31-32 (CSB) Jesus replied to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a doctor, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

• Christ came for the poor in spirit and not those who content with this life

Matthew 5:3 (CSB) Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

• Christ came for the sinner and not those who assume they are good nor think they are entitled to his salvation and blessing because they have done the right thing

Romans 5:8 (CSB) But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Please understand what the Bible is saying: it is not up to you to figure out how to be a sinner, how to be poor, how to be sick. You and I were already born that way. You and I were already born far from God. You and I were already born in sin and sickness.

But the question that you and I must answer and believe: "How sick am I need to be before I go to the only God that heals? How sinful do I need to be before I cry out to the only Lord that is might to save? How poor and far do I need to be for I can turn away from my sin and found the everlasting arms of our Father always outstretched always waiting for you and me?"

Are you waiting to get to the end of your rope? Are you waiting to see what the world has to offer and choose what sounds better--like you are choosing between buying one home over the other, one car over the other, or even Lucky Charms over Cocoa Puffs? Are you waiting to see if you can make it on your own or are you waiting to hit rock bottom?

Here's the kick: without Christ dwelling in you, without the Father giving you a new heart, without the Spirit making you born again, you are already at the end of your rope--you have already hit rock bottom. Because of your own sin, you just can't see it because you are blind to the things of God.

Don't choose rock bottom. Don't choose the world. God is not a choice like a breakfast cereal. God is life and God is love. Choose on this day whom you will serve.