whether it'll work...
Thank you for your respectful and encouraging reply.
No, I do not know whether my selling my gun will "work"--whatever that means--but it's what I felt the need to do. You are correct: I cannot sell my wife, nor am I at liberty to divorce her, should she come between the Lord and me. (BTW, she is a godly woman.) But there are scriptural proscriptions against divorce, none against selling personal items. There are, however, numerous passages about hating father, mother, sister, brother, even my own life in the service of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Other numerous passages speak about the love of money and the snare of riches in this world. And in this country, I'm sorry--we're all rich!!
In addition, Mark 10 details a story about a rich man who desired eternal life. After Christ told the man to keep the commandments, the man replied that he had (at least superficially) kept them from his youth. "Jesus looked on him, loved him, and told him, 'this one thing you lack. Sell all that you have and give the money to the poor. Then come follow me'." The man walked away sad, for he had great possessions. Unless he repented, that man has been in Hell for 2000 years and will remain there for eternity. Not because he was rich, but because the Lord was not his Lord.
Now, I do not hear Christ asking me to sell all my possessions, for the reason, I'm guessing, that they do not have my heart. But his possessions had the rich man's heart. And my Savage model 12 had mine.
Plus, say I'm in error and interpreted the text wrongly. Oh well...I have one fewer gun, and now some poor person has a few hundred bucks to buy food. But most importantly, I hope my Lord saw one of His servants at least attempting to be obedient, albeit imperfectly.
Now, as regards your admonition to read God's Word daily, I do already. I confess I do not read an hour each morning, but I do read it (nearly) every day. I'm glad you like the Authorized version. But the version is not important. As long as it's a literal and not a worthless dynamic equivalent "translation" (like the New Living Translation or Today's NIV or The Message)--that's the point. I read the English Standard Version, which is a direct descendent of the KJV.
Anyway, brother, thank you for your reply. May the Lord richly bless you as you feed on the Manna of His Word and devote your all to the Word made flesh.
Yours,
Joe Hansen
Stillwater, MN