Sincerity

 

Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave commandment to depart unto the other side.  And a certain scribe came, and said unto Him, Master, I will follow thee whither-soever thou goest.  And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head.  Matthew 8:18-21

That it is strange in itself, that the Son of God, when He came into the world, should put Himself into such a very low condition, as to want the convenience of a certain resting-place, which the meanest of the creatures have.  The foxes have holes; though they are not only not useful; but hurtful, to man, yet God provides holes for them in which they are earthed; man endeavors to destory them, but thus they are sheltered; their holes are their castles.

Birds of the air, though they take no care for themselves, yet are taken care of and have nests; nests in the field; some of them nests in the house; in God's courts.  How poorly the Lord Jesus was provided for.  It may encourage us to trust God for necessaries, that the beasts and birds have such good provisions and may comfort us, if we want necessaries, that our Master did so before us.

Our Lord Jesus when He was here in the world, submitted to the disgraces and distresses of extreme poverty; for our sakes He became poor, very poor.  Christ submitted to this, not only that He might in all respects humble himself, and fulfill the scriptures, which spake of Him as poor and needy, but that He might show us the vanity of worldly wealth, and teach us to look upon it with a holy contempt; that He might purchase better things for us, and so make us rich.  (2 Corinthians 8:9)

It is strange that such a declaration should be made on this occasion.  When a scribe offered to follow Christ, one would think He would have encouraged him, and said, Come and I will take care of thee, but Christ saw his heart,and answered to the thoughts of that,and therein teaches us all how to come to Christ.  

His resolve seems to have been from a worldly, covetous principle.  He saw what abundance of cures Christ wrought, and concluded that he had large fees,and would get an estate quickly, and therefore he would follow Him in hopes of growing rich with Him; but Christ rectifies his mistake, and tells him, he was so far from growing rich, that He had not a place to lay His head on.

Christ will accept none for His followers that aim at worldly advantages in following Him, or design to make anything but heaven their religion.  (Matthew Henry)

Christ never said there was anything wrong with wealth--but the vanity of wealth is wrong.  If we think we can become a follower of Christ in order to "gain" worldly possessions or status--then Christ is essentially saying:  think again--not going to happen.  The scribe was not sincere--he had an ulterior motive in wanting to follow Christ.  Not understanding that Christ looks upon man's heart--the intent--the desire of that secret place within each of us.  

Personally I'm glad; takes a load off of me.  I can sit there in church looking as saintly as can be--yet I know that Christ sees deep within me.  Standing in a room with people who may think something of me--yet Christ knows--He knows.  That fact keeps me humble and my lips are forever moving asking forgiveness for things because I know that He knows--no escaping.

It also keeps my heart because I know that His Grace is always pouring over me.