Empty Yourself Before God (Ezk.28:1-10/Deut.32/Matt.19:23-30)


Pride and arrogance is a worm that can eat us up spiritually if we fail to empty ourselves before God. The prince of Tyre in the first reading of today was full of himself and in his pride he assumed the place of a god and started comparing himself to the gods, but God humbled him to make him know that he is nothing, but a creature.

We must recognise and realise in our lives that we are nothing without God and that everything we have is God's gift to us and if we must please God, we have to use whatever he has given to us to glorify His name. When we carry a lot of baggage it will not allow us to humble ourselves, we may become proud and as a result of that we will miss the reward that is due those who humble themselves and have made sacrifices to serve God well here on earth. We cannot serve God well when we think only of ourselves and when we love wealth and the material things of this life more than God. We must strive to empty ourselves of everything impure so that God will fill our hearts with the pure things that will bring us fulfilment in the end.

The reason why Jesus said in the gospel this morning, that it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God is not because to be rich is sinful, however, if you will be rich and still please God you must not let your wealth disconnect you from the good relationship you are supposed to have with God. When you love the material things of this world and your heart is so attached to them, it will be very difficult for you to see that there is another world better than the one in which you live, that is the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus made it explicit to Peter that when one empties himself and leaves everyother thing behind, father, mother, sisters, brothers, houses, lands, children e.t.c to follow Him that there will be a hundredfold reward for the person here on earth and thereafter eternal life in heaven. This means that when we empty ourselves from all other unwanted and unnecessary attachments to the things of this life that block our view of the things of the spirit we will be able to see well and we will reconnect ourselves to God who is the one to reward us at the end of our labour. We must empty ourselves of pride, arrogance, hatred, envy, jealousy, selfishness, greediness, laziness, cheating, dishonesty, lies e.t.c We must allow the Spirit of God to make us become down to earth in our behaviour so that we will not be interested in our wealth or the status we have achieved in the society, but how well we are able to use whatever we have acquired as a gift from God to serve Him well here on earth. Self emptying of everything fake and evil is very important and necessary if we are to be the person God wants us to be and in the end it will lead us to enter heaven with all the rewards attached to it.

Let Us Pray: Heavenly Father, help me to realise everyday that you are the best thing I need and may I be ready to empty myself of things that are impure so that you will fill me with your spirit and I will be ready to do your will and serve you well here on earth. Amen

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