Even John Bunyan confessed that he struggled with this issue when he said "I am somewhat too fond of these great Mercies," (referring to his wife and children). Bunyan later stated that he thought the 12 plus years he spent in prison were meant, in part, to keep him from cherishing anything more than Christ. The following quote of his is along that same subject:
"I was made to see that...I must first pass a sentence of death upon everything that can be properly called a thing of this life, even to reckon myself, my wife, my children, my health, my enjoyment, and all, as dead to me, and myself as dead to them. The second was, to live upon God that is invisible."
Along these same lines, I was thinking about the rich young ruler (Mark 10:17-31). In this passage the man comes to Jesus and asks "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus tells him to keep the commandments, which the man says he has already done from his youth. Later we find out that he had kept all of the commandments except the one concerning idolatry. Jesus said to him "One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." (verse 21) In other words, this man was idolizing something and it needed to be dealt with. The fact that he'd kept all of the other commandments was pointless, since he was unwilling to give up his idol (in this case, riches) in order to have Jesus. I took this as a challenge for the Christian to periodically search himself, making sure that he is not elevating anything higher than Christ. We should all strive to "live upon God that is invisible."
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