Oswald Chambers asks,
“Are you more devoted to your idea of what Jesus wants than to Himself?”
The rich, young ruler of Luke 18 came asking what he needed to do to inherit eternal life and Jesus gave him the answer I think he was expecting. “You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.” The young ruler may have thought to himself that Jesus would be pleased and tell him he had passed the test. Indeed, he had done those things, but he was unprepared for the second part of the response. “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
The ruler walked away sad. As it turned out, his devotion was to his idea of what Jesus wanted. Jesus surprised him by demanding something he did not anticipate—a love that would make him lay down everything he held dear and follow a wandering rabbi to unknown places living a life he couldn’t reconcile with what he had always believed. The ruler was a man bent on righteousness and service. He lived carefully.
David, on the other hand, lived – with a heart of passion toward God. Intermingled with his greatness, there is a list of moral failings. When the prophet Nathan confronted him after his adultery with Bathsheba, David’s immediate response was, “I have sinned against the Lord.” He then confessed his guilt, pleaded for forgiveness, cleansing and restoration. Perhaps it was David’s willingness to always stand stripped before the Lord that made him the man after God’s heart. His nearly naked dance into Jerusalem while the house of Israel brought the ark back into the city may be the metaphor that best depicts David’s joyous unselfconscious abandonment to God.
Somehow, I don’t think the rich young ruler would have been caught doing such a thing. After all, he was more devoted to what he thought Jesus wanted than he was to Jesus.
This is really the crux of the matter for us. Do we merely believe in Jesus and serve Him carefully or do we love Him and follow Him, even if it means living with the contempt of others – even if it makes life untidy, even if it departs from what we always thought Jesus wanted?
It seems to me that when we love God, we please Him most. The ruler came minus sins (so he thought), but also minus love and was sent away sad. David came dancing and loving and yes, sinning. Expressing the most fervent contrition, David deplored his own sin, but he neither walked self-consciously through life nor stopped running toward God with a passion. It was David’s passion that pleased God and moved Him in love to call this flawed king a man after His own heart. (LISA DYE)