3 Day Bible Reading Plan - “The Challenge of Wealth”
“What advice did Jesus give this rich young ruler, AND what advice does He give us today? If you want to get on the right ladder, “go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Jesus is not interested in half-hearted devotion! He didn’t go to the cross to forgive us our sins so we could simply ADD Him to our already good life! Jesus isn’t the icing on the cake of our lives. Jesus spoke in the deepest part of this man’s life—He spoke directly to this man’s idol—the love of money, and He still does it today. Jesus disturbed this man’s soul, and He wants to do the same to us. Only when we come face to face with the reality of our lifelong pursuits will we ever truly be confronted with our idol.” - Pastor James Gleason, 11/9/25
Day 1
Featured Verse: Matthew 19:16-20 - “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”
When the rich man claims he has kept all the commandments from his youth, Jesus does not dispute his outward obedience. How does this interaction challenge common understandings of what it means to truly “keep” the Law?
The rich young man leaves sorrowful, grieved by the sacrifice Jesus demands. What does his sorrow reveal about the anguish of loving riches more than God, and why does refusing to surrender them bar entry into the kingdom?
Peter asks, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” How does Jesus’ answer about thrones, regeneration, and receiving a hundredfold both affirm and transcend a reward-based view of discipleship?
Pause and Reflect: What possession, position, or dream feels impossible to release? Are you willing to let it go today, trusting that true treasure is found only in following Him?
“The young man’s sorrowful departure is a revelation of the tremendous power of the world over the hearts which are not held by Christ. He was not a wicked man; he was not insensible to the beauty of the character set before him; he was not without yearning after eternal life. But he could not pluck out his right eye, nor cut off his right hand. He could not make the great sacrifice. So he went away sorrowful. And that sorrow was the truest joy he had ever known, for it was the revelation to him of himself, and the first touch of a grief that might issue in blessedness. Better to go away sorrowful, with the arrow in his heart, than to remain ‘innocent’ and unpierced.” - Alexander Maclaren
Day 2
Featured Verse: Matthew 19:21-22 - “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
Why is sorrow the dominant emotion rather than anger, indifference, or relief? What does this grief tell us about the torment of knowing the cost yet refusing to pay it?
If the young man had sold everything and followed, what kind of poverty would he have gained—and what kind of riches? How does Jesus redefine wealth in this single exchange?
Imagine yourself in the young man’s sandals: Jesus has just named the one thing you cannot release. What is it, and what does your willingness or unwillingness to let it go reveal about what truly sits on the throne of your heart?
Pause and Reflect: Why are people willing to lose their soul to keep their wealth or worldly status?
“He would be saved by works; yet he would not carry out his works to the full of the law’s demand. He loved his wealth better than his God; he loved it better than his own soul; he loved it better than the Lord who made him. He was a picker and chooser of the commandments—he kept the best and left the weightier matters of the law. He thought he had kept the commandments, but he had not; for he had broken the first, ‘Thou shalt have no other gods before me,’ by making his wealth his god. He had broken the second table, for he did not love his neighbour as himself, or he would have sold all that he had and given to the poor. Christ’s demand was too high for him; he could not rise to it, and therefore he went away sorrowful. Better far to go to heaven poor and naked and ragged, than to go to hell rich and increased with goods.” - Charles Spurgeon
Day 3
Featured Verse: Mark 10:21 - “And Jesus, looking at him, loved him.”
Jesus looks at him, loves him, and then issues the hardest command of all. How does this moment reveal that divine love sometimes wounds before it heals, and why is the wound of exposure necessary for true discipleship?
How does Christ’s loving look prepare the heart for the wound of truth, and why do we so often fear that gaze?
Christ’s love did not shield the young man from grief; it led him straight into it. What does this reveal about the difference between sentimental affection and biblical love that is willing to break a heart in order to heal it forever?
Pause and Reflect: Will you let Christ’s love, which is tender enough to see you, yet fierce enough to wound you, have its full way in your heart today, even if it costs you everything you’re still clinging to?
“One thing thou lackest—What was that? A heart disengaged from the world, and a complete renunciation of it and its concerns, that he might become a proper and successful labourer in the Lord’s vineyard…Renounce the world, and the sinful gratifications thou derivest from it; abandon thy secular occupation, and join thyself wholly to me, and I will make thee a fisher of men…He was grieved because he saw that he must part with all his worldly goods, and renounce all his secular connections, if he would be a disciple of Christ. He loved his possessions more than he loved his soul, and therefore he chose to lose Christ rather than his property.” - Adam Clarke