The Rich Young Ruler
 
        And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.  Mark 10:22
 
    His claim that he has kept the law of God was a deception.  He showed that riches were his idol.  He could not keep the commandments of God while the world was first in his affections.  He loved the gifts of God more than he loved the Giver.  Christ had offered the young man fellowship with Himself.  "Follow Me," He said.  But the Saviour was not so much to him as his own name among men or his possessions.  To give up his earthly treasure, that was seen, for the heavenly treasure, that was unseen, was too great a risk.  He refused the offer of eternal life, and went away, and ever after the world was to receive his worship.  Thousands are passing through this ordeal, weighing Christ against the world; and many choose the world.  Like the young ruler, they turn from the Saviour, saying in their hearts, I will not have this Man as my leader....
 
    All should consider what it means to desire heaven, and yet to turn away because of the condition laid down.  Think of what it means to say "No" to Christ.  The ruler said, No, I cannot give You all.  Do we say the same?  The Saviour offers to share with us the work God has given us to do.  He offers to use the means God has given us, to carry forward His work in the world.  Only in this way can He save us." (The Desire of Ages, 520-523)
 
Reflection:  A human lifetime is very short compared to eternity.  The rich young ruler has been dead for two thousand years.  I wonder if eternal life was worth forfeiting for a few measly years on this planet?

 What Shall a Man Profit
 
        For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?  Mark 8:36
 
    This is a question that demands consideration by every parent, every teacher, every student by every human being, young or old.  No scheme of business or plan of life can be sound or complete that embraces only the brief years of this present life that makes no provision for the unending future.  Let the young be taught to take eternity into their reckoning.  Let them be taught to choose the principles and seek the possessions that are enduring--to lay up for themselves that "treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth," to make to themselves friends "by means of the mammon of unrighteousness," that when it shall fail, these may receive them "into the eternal tabernacles" (Luke 12:33; 16:9, R.V.).
 
    All who do this are making the best possible preparation for life in this world.  No man can lay up treasure in heaven without finding his life on earth thereby enriched and ennobled.
 
    "Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come" (1 Timothy 4:8). (Education, 145)
 
Reflection:  We should live now as though we're living forever.  Why center our lives around the things that will perish?

 The Touch of Faith
 
        And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.  Mark 5:34
 
    "If I may but touch His garment, I shall be whole" (Matthew 9:21),  It was a poor woman who spoke these words; a woman who for twelve years had suffered from a disease that made her life a burden.  She had spent all her means upon physicians and remedies, only to be pronounced incurable.  But as she heard of the Great Healer, her hopes revived.  She thought, "If only I could get near enough to speak to Him, I might be healed."...
 
    As He was passing, she reached forward and succeeded in barely touching the border of His garment.  That moment she knew that she was healed.  In that one touch was concentrated the faith of her life, and instantly her pain and feebleness disappeared.  Instantly she felt the thrill as of an electric current passing through every fiber of her being.  There came over her a sensation of perfect health.  "She felt in her body that she was healed of that plague" (Verse 29)....
 
    Many hold faith as an option.  Saving faith is a transaction, by which those who receive Christ join themselves in covenant relation with God.  A living faith means an increase of vigor, a confiding trust, by which, through the grace of Christ, the soul becomes a conquering power. (The Ministry of Healing, 59-62)
 
Reflection:  In the difficulties you face today, look to Jesus for answers, for healing, and for comfort.  He is just as able today to bring relief as He was when He was here on earth.  The words for today are "Look and Live."

The Leper
 
        And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.  Mark 1:40
 
    Away from his friends and his kindred, the leper must bear the curse of his malady.  He was obliged to publish his calamity, to rend his garments, and sound the alarm, warning all to flee from his contaminating presence.  The cry, "Unclean! unclean!" coming in mournful tones from the lonely exile, was a signal heard with fear and abhorrence.
 
    The leper is guided to the Saviour.  Jesus is teaching beside the lake, and the people are gathered about Him.  Standing afar off, the leper catches a few words from the Saviour's lips.  He sees Him laying His hands upon the sick.  He sees the lame, the blind, the paralytic, and those dying of various maladies rise up in health, praising God for their deliverance.  Faith strengthens in his heart....
 
    He is a loathsome spectacle.  The disease has made frightful inroads, and his decaying body is horrible to look upon.  At sight of him the people fall back in terror.  They crowd upon one another in their eagerness to escape from contact with him.  Some try to prevent him from approaching Jesus, but in vain.  He neither sees nor hears them.  Their expressions of loathing are lost upon him.  He sees only the Son of God.  He hears only the voice that speaks life to the dying.  Pressing to Jesus, he casts himself at His feet with the cry, "Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean." (The Desire of Ages, 262, 263)
 
Reflection:  Christ will make us clean today.  Let us, as the leper did, see only the Life-Giver.  No matter what the noise or confusion is, don't look to the left or the right.  "Jesus only" is our watchword for the day.

 He is Risen
 
        And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.  He is not here: for he is risen, as he said.  Come, see the place where the Lord lay.  Matthew 28:5, 6
 
    When the voice of the angel was heard at Christ's tomb, saying, Thy Father calls Thee, the Saviour came forth from the grave by the life that was in Himself.  Now was proved the truth of His words, "I lay down My life, that I might take it again....I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again."  Now was fulfilled the prophecy He had spoken to the priests and rulers, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John 10:17, 18; 2:19).
 
    Over the rent sepulcher of Joseph, Christ had proclaimed in triumph, "I am the resurrection, and the life."  These words could be spoken only by the Deity.  All created beings live by the will and power of God.  They are dependent recipients of the life of God.  From the highest seraph to the humblest animate being, all are replenished from the Source of life.  Only He who is one with God could say, I have power to lay down My life, and I have power to take it again.  In His divinity, Christ possessed the power to break the bonds of death. (The Desire of Ages, 786)
 
Reflection:  We should never despair when we get discouraged.  Christ is God.  His power is no less now than it was in the past.  The very fact that He came forth should mean everything to us.  He has faith in you and me to be eternally saved.  Let's all be faithful to the end.

The Burden of Sin
 
        And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?...Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.  Matthew 27:46, 50
 
    It was to redeem us that Jesus lived and suffered and died.  He became "a Man of Sorrows," that we might be made partakers of everlasting joy.  God permitted His beloved Son, full of grace and truth, to come from a world of indescribable glory, to a world marred and blighted with sin, darkened with the shadow of death and the curse.  He permitted Him to leave the bosom of His love, the adoration of the angels, to suffer shame, insult, humiliation, hatred, and death.  "The chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5).  Behold Him in the wilderness, in Gethsemane, upon the cross!  The spotless Son of God took upon Himself the burden of sin.  He who had been one with God, felt in His soul the awful separation that sin makes between God and man.  This wrung from His lips the anguished cry, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:46).  It was the burden of the soul from God--it was this that broke the heart of the Son of God. (Steps to Christ, 13)
 
Reflection:  Let no one tell us that we cannot be overcomers through Jesus Christ our Lord.  That is a lie from Satan himself.  It was sin that killed our Lord.  Let us always keep that in mind when we are tempted to do wrong.

The Cup
 
        He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.  Matthew 26:42
 
    Three times has He uttered that prayer.  Three times has humanity shrunk from the last, crowning sacrifice.  But now the history of the human race comes up before the world's Redeemer.  He sees that the transgressors of the law, if left to themselves, must perish.  He sees the helplessness of man.  He sees the power of sin.  The woes and lamentations of a doomed world rise before Him.  He beholds its impending fate, and His decision is made.  He will save man at any cost to Himself.  He accepts His baptism of blood, that through Him perishing millions may gain everlasting life.  He has left the courts of heaven, where all is purity, happiness, and glory, to save the one lost sheep, the one world that has fallen be transgression.  And He will not turn from His mission.  He will become the propitiation of a race that has willed to sin.  His prayer now breathes only submission: "If this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done." (The Desire of Ages, 690)
 
Reflection:  Oh, what a Savior we serve!  Let us never complain about the little problems we face.

The Talents
 
        For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.  And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.  Matthew 25: 14, 15
 
    God gives the talents, the powers of the mind; we form the character.  It is formed by hard, stern battles with self.  Conflict after conflict must be waged against hereditary tendencies.  We shall have to criticize ourselves closely, and allow not one unfavorable trait to remain uncorrected.
 
    Let no one say, I cannot remedy my defects of character.  If you come to this decision, you will certainly fail of obtaining everlasting life.  The impossibility lies in your own will.  If you will not, then you can not overcome.  The real difficulty arises from the corruption of an unsanctified heart, and an unwillingness to submit to the control of God.
 
    Many whom God has qualified to do excellent work accomplish very little, because they attempt little.  Thousands pass through life as if they had no definite object for which to live, no standard to reach.  Such will obtain a reward proportionate to their works. (Christ Object Lessons, 331)
 
Reflection:  The smallest trust is from God.  With the blessing of God, the one talent, through diligent use, will be doubled.  The two used in the service of Christ will be increased to four, and thus the humblest instrument may grow in power and usefulness.

Ten Virgins
 
        Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.  And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.  Matthew 25:1, 2
 
    The class represented by the foolish virgins are not hypocrites.  They have a regard for the truth, they have advocated the truth, they are attracted to those who believe the truth, but they have not yielded themselves to the Holy Spirit's working.  They have not fallen upon the Rock, Christ Jesus, and permitted their old nature to be broken up.  This class are represented also by the stony-ground hearers.  They receive the word with readiness, but they fail of assimilating its principles.  Its influence is not abiding.  The Spirit works upon man's heart, according to his desire and consent implanting in him a new nature; but the class represented by the foolish virgins have been content with a superficial work.  They do not know God.  They have not studied His character; they have not held communion with Him; therefore they do not know how to trust, how to look and live.  Their service to God degenerates into a form.  "They come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as My people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness" (Ezekiel 33::31). (Christ Object Lessons, 411)
 
Reflection:  It is so easy to get caught up in good things--even religious things. These good things are great to be a part of, but don't be distracted like the five foolish virgins; in the end they were not ready.  We cannot fool ourselves into thinking that because we go to church and hold an office we are ready for Jesus.  Let us be honest and make sure there is nothing between us and the Savior.

Clouds of Heaven
 
        And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.  Matthew 24:30
 
    And He says, "Learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that He is near, even at the doors" (Matthew 24:32, 33, margin).
 
    Christ has given signs of His coming.  He declares that we may know when He is near, even at the doors.  He says of those who see these signs, "This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."  These signs have appeared.  Now we know of a surety that the Lord's coming is at hand.  "Heaven and earth shall pass away," He says, "but My words shall not pass away."
 
    Christ is coming with clouds and with great glory.  A multitude of shining angels will attend Him.  He will come to raise the dead, and to change the living saints from glory to glory.  He will come to honor those who have loved Him, and kept His commandments, and to take them to Himself.  He has not forgotten them nor His promise. (The Desire of Ages, 632)
 
Reflection:  Many of us have heard since we were old enough to understand, that Jesus was coming soon.  Today the signs are all around us.  This world is truly waxing old like a garment.  We do not know the day or hour, but we can and should know that it is near.  Let's recommit our lives today and be ready for His soon return.