Get rid of the ego

There is one word that strikes me about what the rich young man says. He uses quite a lot the word I. What can I do to inherit eternal life he asks. I have done all this. The Rich young man was so caught up in himself and what he had achieved he could not see beyond the I.  He comes with pride to Jesus. It almost feels arrogant the way he asks Jesus the question. 

The Ego is our biggest obstacle to God. When we are caught up with ourselves we find It so difficult to see beyond the ego. We come with our own sense of pride and our own sense of who we are we fail to see the world around us. We come with a sense of not realising that we do things with the help of God rather than on our own merits. This is why Jesus looked steadily at him and loved him. He saw beyond his ego, but the challenge of Jesus was deeper. He gave him something that for him was impossible to do. In one translation I read it did not say wealth but processions. This is an interesting point. For me it makes more sense. What Processions do we have that Keeps us away from God. I am not talking here about physical processions but those that weigh us down that we latch on too. It maybe for some of us food, pride, maybe a job that we do that we just cannot give up. We all hold on to various things that keep us from God. Life is about getting rid of these things that keep us from God. That is why the man could not follow Jesus because he could not give them up he could not let them go. 

The man went away sad because he could not let go of these things. He felt sad because they mattered so much to him. 

The Gospel then moves on to the disciples discussing about what they might get out of this relationship with Jesus. He assures them that it is not going to be easy that there will be difficulties but the rewards out weigh any procession that we have hear on earth. It is eternal life. 

So how is this achieved. Jesus says it all at the end of the Gospel. For us things are impossible but for God everything is possible. So how do we get from the impossible to the possible. Well lets look back at what we talked about at the beginning the word I when you take away the I and so therefore the m repressing the me then it becomes possible. For we need to take away the ego the I and M therefore becomes possible because you are replacing it with God. You are giving up those processions that take us away from what is possible to God. 


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