What's Holding You Back?

I received this in one of my pastoral emails that I subscribe to. It's from a pastor named Perry Noble. I think he's right on. What's holding you back from growing in the Lord?

The story of the Rich Young Ruler has always seized my attention. (You can read it in Mark 10:17-22.) Jesus told him in verse Mark 10:21 that there was basically ONE THING that was holding him back from being His follower. (And the guy was unwilling to give up that one thing!)

I’ve been in ministry for about 20 years now, and through my personal experiences and with what I’ve seen in others, I’ve basically identified four “one things” that commonly hold people back.

#1 – Money – Jesus said that money is the number one competitor for our hearts. (See Matthew 6:19-24) Paul gave specific warnings regarding money (I Timothy 6:6-19). And we know from the story that this was the rich young ruler's problem. We cannot be fully committed followers of Christ if greed is the obsession of our hearts. God is generous…His followers should be as well.

#2 – Anger/Unforgiveness – What Jesus said in Matthew 6:14-15 does not get a lot of press, but the importance of His statement is VITAL and ESSENTIAL to you and me having a dynamic, victorious walk with Jesus. He flat out said that if we do not forgive, we are not forgiven. (Also see I John 2:9-11) We cannot pursue Jesus with all our hearts if bitterness and unforgiveness dominates our minds and hearts. One of the things that we miss so often in reading the book of Job is that God DID bless Job and more than restore all that he had lost…but He did so AFTER Job forgave and prayed for his legalistic friends who had done nothing but tear him down for days! (See Job 42:10) MAYBE the reason you cannot move forward in your walk with Christ is because you are not willing to extend the same forgiveness you claim that God has given to you.

#3 – Unconfessed Sin – Is there an issue that God keeps coming after that you refuse to let go of? Remember…He will RELENTLESSLY pursue your heart, not your behavior. AND…to KNOW Him intimately is to obey Him immediately!! We’ve GOT to remember that “delayed obedience” is radical disobedience. If He’s coming after something in your life, it is only because He wants to replace it with something better. (Read Mark 10:17 again and notice that the Bible specifically says that Jesus LOVED this guy…and out of that love, He came after the idol in the guy's life!) My advice here would simply be to let go of whatever He’s after…AND…if He’s clearly spoken to you about an issue, then just do what He says…He’s not changing His mind!

#4 – An Ungodly Relationship – You cannot pursue an affair and pursue Jesus. You cannot have sex with someone you are not married to and pursue Jesus. You cannot date someone that Jesus says not to date and be close to Him. Some people have their identity in who they are dating (or having sex with) rather than Christ…and this ALWAYS destroys our fellowship with Him.

I am sure there are other things that we all deal with…but these are four things that so often hold us back from being who God wants us to be!