Good morning everyone,

Mark 10:22-Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

It is hard to imagine that being discouraged can be good for us. But think about how being discouraged from spending too much time away working, hobbies, and selfish habits have led you to embrace more important things such as God, His calling, and family or healthy friendships. It’s only when we see the discouragement it has caused for those more important things do we then consider giving them up.

When you read about the rich young rulers encounter with Jesus, he came to Jesus with a heart that treasured his riches over following Him. So when Jesus asked him to give up what he treasured to follow Him, he made the decision to walk away from Jesus which then left him discouraged. Though he never gave up his true treasure he left discouraged with it….

The beauty of this kind of discouragement is that it if we choose our desires over Jesus, once we encounter Him we can never walk with the same joy we had in those things again! Everything changes how we feel because we just encountered the greatest joy ever!

To walk away from the greatest love in Jesus to settle for our petty joys in comparison is to live discouraged. I pray this discouragement will lead you and I to forsake whatever we are holding onto that we follow Him wholeheartedly, that He can prove He is greater than everything!

In His Love, L.D.