“He said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, who shall not receive manifold more in the present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.” (Luke 18:29, 3029And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, 30Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting. (Luke 18:29‑30)).
The Lord announces, If you give up what you naturally value, such as natural ties, when they come to bar the way; when they hinder you in your path with Me, I will take care that you gain by doing so. You shall have manifold more in this present time. If you sacrifice natural things for Christ here, you gain manifold more from Christ here.
There are rich men; some are rich in friends, others in belongings, in means, in bodily strength, in mental powers, no matter what, I say to you, if you begin to trust in such riches instead of surrendering them to Christ, you will find you are not progressing.
Now, is it not pleasant for the heart to be able thus to delight in God? To be able to say: I am a poor, feeble creature, without means; but He has taken me up in His arms, laid His hands upon me, and blessed me; whereas if I were a man of great natural resources, perhaps I should find it very difficult to give up everything to follow Christ.
And yet it is there that devotedness comes in, because devotedness consists in giving up for Christ.
And as for those who know what it is to surrender anything here for Christ, those things which I might have, but which I give up so that I may have more of Him, I have no loss, my gain is great, it is “manifold more.”
Let no one say, I have suffered through giving up for Christ. You have not. The Apostle says, All that I have given up for Him, I do count it but rubbish. That is the force of the word. What! Does a man talk of losing a farthing when he has picked up a sovereign instead? In this way I say a saint enjoys,
A saint walking with God, enjoys every remnant of good in this world, far more than a rich man does who is surrounded with every luxury that he is dependent on.