Need some advice (May cause triggers)

[Shawb]

Hello All
Recently, I have been suffering from an obsession. I have this horrible obsession with the young rich ruler that came randomly. Specifically, when Jesus said "you must sell all your possessions..." so I have been having thoughts that maybe God wants me to sell my possessions. But the truth is I know it's my ocd and that it is black and white thinking and moral perfectionism. But the real problem is because I won't do what the ocd says its accusing me of being too secular or wanting to discard my faith which is not true. It feels that every time I go against my thoughts I question myself that "What if I am going against God?" "What if I don't love God enough?" What if I am in danger of being selfish or too worldly?" I just get so tired of it.

 

[Adstar]

The rich young man who came to Jesus was under a major false belief..

He believed that achieving eternal life with God was something people could do by the things they did.. Thats why he asked Jesus the following when he met Him..

Matthew 19: KJV
16 "¶ And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?"

Now Christians know ( Or should know,, many don't,, ) that we have eternal life because of the good thing that Jesus did on the cross... Jesus in this conversation had to walk the guy through the process of conviction untill the guy realised he was not perfect... Because the only way a person can have eternal life under their own justification is if they are Perfect.. Now Jesus knew the young mans weakness.. He was rich.. So all Jesus had to do to destroy the guys belief that He could justify his own place in eternity was to say the following..

Matthew 19: KJV
21 "Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me."

Jesus made two important statements in this verse.. That the man had to be perfect.... Now of course no man is perfect only God is perfect.. Now the next important statement was not the go and sell everything part.. Even though the young man walked away in tears because he could not do it... Note Jesus had things covered even if the man went away and sold all his property and gave all he had to the poor.. Because Jesus added ""come and follow me""

So we Christians know that top be deemed perfect we must become followers of the LORD Jesus Christ to be saved.. Jesus included this in his response to the young man

 

[paul1149]

It feels that every time I go against my thoughts I question myself

Take those thoughts to the Word and determine their source. Compare them to the invitation Jesus offers to us:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” -Matt 11:28-30​

Or to James' description of the wisdom of God:

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without personal favoritism and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. -Jas 3:17-18​

Also, it is written several times in the Bible, Old and New Testament, that at the mouth of two or three witnesses everything must be established. Where is the confirmation of these voices? Where is the inner peace that says, yes this is God? The gentle persuasion that says, yes this is the right way? You see you do not have peace about it. Instead it is tearing you up. It is not gentle, as James describes, and it also does not line up with the gracious rest Jesus offers us.

If it is the voice is of God, He will confirm it to you in your spirit. You will know that you know, the wisdom will be pure, and you will have peace about. Lacking that, I would say put on the full armor (eph 6.10-ff) and stand your ground in the Lord.

Stand fast therefore in the liberty in which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. -Gal 5:1​

 

[Shawb]

The rich young man who came to Jesus was under a major false belief..

He believed that achieving eternal life with God was something people could do by the things they did.. Thats why he asked Jesus the following when he met Him..

Matthew 19: KJV
16 "¶ And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?"

Now Christians know ( Or should know,, many don't,, ) that we have eternal life because of the good thing that Jesus did on the cross... Jesus in this conversation had to walk the guy through the process of conviction untill the guy realised he was not perfect... Because the only way a person can have eternal life under their own justification is if they are Perfect.. Now Jesus knew the young mans weakness.. He was rich.. So all Jesus had to do to destroy the guys belief that He could justify his own place in eternity was to say the following..

Matthew 19: KJV
21 "Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me."

Jesus made two important statements in this verse.. That the man had to be perfect.... Now of course no man is perfect only God is perfect.. Now the next important statement was not the go and sell everything part.. Even though the young man walked away in tears because he could not do it... Note Jesus had things covered even if the man went away and sold all his property and gave all he had to the poor.. Because Jesus added ""come and follow me""

So we Christians know that top be deemed perfect we must become followers of the LORD Jesus Christ to be saved.. Jesus included this in his response to the young man

Thank you. This was really informative it just my ocd makes me feel so idolatrous sometimes. It keeps telling me to get rid of things and if I don't I'm becoming an unbeliever or in a bad spot with God. But I know it's my ocd and if I give it an inch it takes a mile.

 

[SongToTheShepherd]

x

 

[mukk_in]

Hello All
Recently, I have been suffering from an obsession. I have this horrible obsession with the young rich ruler that came randomly. Specifically, when Jesus said "you must sell all your possessions..." so I have been having thoughts that maybe God wants me to sell my possessions. But the truth is I know it's my ocd and that it is black and white thinking and moral perfectionism. But the real problem is because I won't do what the ocd says its accusing me of being too secular or wanting to discard my faith which is not true. It feels that every time I go against my thoughts I question myself that "What if I am going against God?" "What if I don't love God enough?" What if I am in danger of being selfish or too worldly?" I just get so tired of it.

Shawb, if you truly feel that the Holy Spirit is telling you to see everything, then do so. If it's the Lord testing you then He'll stop you (as He stopped Abraham). Some times it takes blind faith to see the Lord.

This passage of scripture was to demonstrate to the rich young ruler that there's nothing one can do to save themselves. The Apostle Paul put it this way: "If I give everything I have to the poor and yet have not love, then I'm nothing...". The rich young man thought that he was perfect, only to discover that his legalistic perfection was nothing compared to the holiness of the Lord. This prompted the disciples to exclaim in exasperation: "Who then can be saved." To which the Lord Jesus responded "That which is impossible to man is possible with God." God bless .

 

[timewerx]

Thank you. This was really informative it just my ocd makes me feel so idolatrous sometimes. It keeps telling me to get rid of things and if I don't I'm becoming an unbeliever or in a bad spot with God. But I know it's my ocd and if I give it an inch it takes a mile.

Actually, your OCD might be telling you the truth...

Wonder why Jesus did not ask the same thing from His disciples? The disciples already gave up a lot of things to follow Christ. They left homes and families and only had few possessions afterwards...

However, I'm not saying you need to literally sell everything...NO. Keep in mind the disciples still kept a few possessions, mostly things they *need* in their trade of fishing and to preach the Gospel.

Also many verses that tell that worldly things like money are only good if used to help our brothers and sisters in need, NOT for our own leisure because we shouldn't love our lives, we could lose our salvation for doing so. We could also lose our salvation for NOT denying ourselves.

Ironically, the Bible doesn't tell we leave our jobs -- unless that job is causing us to sin... Making money isn't the problem but how we spend it is often the problem.

You need a computer and a car to your job, then keep it. Of course, keeping a very expensive luxury car to justify that it is needed at work is pushing it...God will account you for it in the day of Judgement.

 

[Shawb]

Take those thoughts to the Word and determine their source. Compare them to the invitation Jesus offers to us:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” -Matt 11:28-30​

Or to James' description of the wisdom of God:

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without personal favoritism and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. -Jas 3:17-18​

Also, it is written several times in the Bible, Old and New Testament, that at the mouth of two or three witnesses everything must be established. Where is the confirmation of these voices? Where is the inner peace that says, yes this is God? The gentle persuasion that says, yes this is the right way? You see you do not have peace about it. Instead it is tearing you up. It is not gentle, as James describes, and it also does not line up with the gracious rest Jesus offers us.

If it is the voice is of God, He will confirm it to you in your spirit. You will know that you know, the wisdom will be pure, and you will have peace about. Lacking that, I would say put on the full armor (eph 6.10-ff) and stand your ground in the Lord.

Stand fast therefore in the liberty in which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. -Gal 5:1​

That's the thing it causes me a lot of anxiety. I'm sorry. It just reminds me of times my ocd was out of control because someone stole my things before which caused my.... never mind it's a long story.

 

[paul1149]

That's the thing it causes me a lot of anxiety. I'm sorry. It just reminds me of times my ocd was out of control because someone stole my things before which caused my.... never mind it's a long story.

Are you comfortable being more specific? I'm not following what it is that causes the anxiety - whether it's the situation or something I wrote.

 

[Shawb]

Are you comfortable being more specific? I'm not following what it is that causes the anxiety - whether it's the situation or something I wrote.

A few months ago someone close to me had stolen my things and claimed to have done it for the Lord. Since then, I have battled depression and ocd. But by God's grace and the support of other Christians like my parents, pastor, cousilors and you guys... I got back up and it turns out the guy who stole from me had actually done it for selfish reasons. Since then, I have had intrusive thoughts of losing my things because God commanded it. I know this experience is not from God, but since then I have become very fearful of him. My intrusive thoughts revolve around devil worship, unbelief, and repeating what happened to me

 

[paul1149]

Thanks for sharing that. Yes, it would certainly seem that stealing from someone would be a selfish act, and definitely not from God. One of the Big Ten says, Thou Shall Not Steal, after all.

1john 4 says that perfect love casts out fear. Maybe it would help to focus and meditate on what Jesus did for you on the cross, and what incredible love He must have for you in order to be willing to do that. Rom 5 says that God shows His love for us in that He was willing to die on the cross even while we were still sinners. Romans 8 is another great chapter about the love of God. Men will fail us, but God is "faithful and true", and never fails.

 

[Shawb]

Thanks for sharing that. Yes, it would certainly seem that stealing from someone would be a selfish act, and definitely not from God. One of the Big Ten says, Thou Shall Not Steal, after all.

1john 4 says that perfect love casts out fear. Maybe it would help to focus and meditate on what Jesus did for you on the cross, and what incredible love He must have for you in order to be willing to do that. Rom 5 says that God shows His love for us in that He was willing to die on the cross even while we were still sinners. Romans 8 is another great chapter about the love of God. Men will fail us, but God is "faithful and true", and never fails.

Thank you. It's just wheneve

 

[Shawb]

Thank you. It's just wheneve

Sorry incomplete thought. Whenever I think about that I felt like God was punishing me and that's why the parable of the rich ruler fills me with anxiety.

 

[paul1149]

It's tough when your feelings are so strong and so negative. 2Cor 5 says "God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their sins against them". So certainly He is not in the business of trying to condemn us now, with Jesus having already paid it all. Would it help to carefully compare the feelings when they come to the truths that Scripture teaches, and to keep identifying with what God says about you?

 

[Shawb]

It's tough when your feelings are so strong and so negative. 2Cor 5 says "God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their sins against them". So certainly He is not in the business of trying to condemn us now, with Jesus having already paid it all. Would it help to carefully compare the feelings when they come to the truths that Scripture teaches, and to keep identifying with what God says about you?

I suppose that would help

 

[God is good]

The rich young man who came to Jesus was under a major false belief..

He believed that achieving eternal life with God was something people could do by the things they did.. Thats why he asked Jesus the following when he met Him..

Matthew 19: KJV
16 "¶ And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?"

Now Christians know ( Or should know,, many don't,, ) that we have eternal life because of the good thing that Jesus did on the cross... Jesus in this conversation had to walk the guy through the process of conviction untill the guy realised he was not perfect... Because the only way a person can have eternal life under their own justification is if they are Perfect.. Now Jesus knew the young mans weakness.. He was rich.. So all Jesus had to do to destroy the guys belief that He could justify his own place in eternity was to say the following..

Matthew 19: KJV
21 "Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me."

Jesus made two important statements in this verse.. That the man had to be perfect.... Now of course no man is perfect only God is perfect.. Now the next important statement was not the go and sell everything part.. Even though the young man walked away in tears because he could not do it... Note Jesus had things covered even if the man went away and sold all his property and gave all he had to the poor.. Because Jesus added ""come and follow me""

So we Christians know that top be deemed perfect we must become followers of the LORD Jesus Christ to be saved.. Jesus included this in his response to the young man

Thank you that's a good reply and it's so very true. Please pray for me to focus on Jesus Christ and Him and God alone for my salvation. God bless you and Jesus is Lord.

 

[Mari17]

Shawb, knowing that you have OCD, I would say treat this as OCD. It sounds like you already know the answers anyway, and I think that you do. Refuse to change your actions out of fear, anxiety, or self-condemnation. Treat this as you would any other obsession. Ignore it, and refuse to do compulsions (which in this case would be actually giving away your stuff). I've had obsessions like this, where I wonder - is it God telling me to do something, or OCD? Often I think we can tell by the motivation. Are you doing a "good" or "Biblical" thing just to relieve anxiety, or do you have a sound, peaceful, positive motivation for doing it? Sometimes we do feel convicted to do certain things, but I think the motivation is different from an OCD pressure. Sometimes, when I feel confused and obsessive about something, I tell myself, "Well, maybe God is calling me to do xyz. But my job right now isn't to figure it out. I CAN'T figure it out right now, because OCD is messing with my mind. My job is to get rid of the OCD first by refusing to do what my brain is telling me I have to do to get rid of my anxiety. Then, if I still need to think about the issue, I can - but it won't be confusing and scary anymore. I'll be able to do with a sound, clear mind and without OCD getting in the way."

Also, just a brief response to the other commenters - when someone has OCD, please be very careful and tactful in what you post. A person with OCD already suffers from an immense amount of legalism and self-condemnation. It's fine to give your opinion, because we all have different convictions about things, and some of us believe differently than others. The difficulty with someone with OCD is that they generally aren't feeling truly "convicted" to do something, but rather are only doing something because they have an inordinate amount of fear and guilt from not doing it. It's like the classic handwashing obsession - washing your hands is a good thing, but the obsessive person takes it to extremes, seeing germs where there are none and dealing with disproportionate fear and anxiety. The issue generally isn't trying to figure out whether or not the obsessive person is truly "called" to something, but getting rid of the fear so that he/she can see clearly again.

 

[A_Thinker]

A few months ago someone close to me had stolen my things and claimed to have done it for the Lord.

This person was flat-out lying to you.

It grieves me to think that such a low-life has triggered these OCD thoughts in you.

God does not expect that you will live without things, ... He just wants you to make some room for Him in your finances.

In the Old Testament, God asked for a tenth of the earnings of His people. Many christians use this as a guide to their giving (i.e. 10% of earnings). If God wants you to give more, ... He will let you know specifically.

There was only ONE PERSON who the Lord asked to SELL ALL that he had ... and that was the rich young ruler. Jesus inspired Zachaeus to give HALF of his wealth away. Paul taught that God wished for His children to earn a decent living for themselves and their famiies, so as not to be overly needful of the help of others.

God is not going to condemn you for any lack in your giving. What He wants most is YOU, ... not your money.

 

[MyTwoCents]

First of all the rich young man said he was keeping all the commandments. Then he asked what else he lacked. Jesus replied something to the effect that IF he would be PERFECT to sell all he had and give to the poor. To understand why Jesus said this we have to look at some other things he said in parables. First of all, he told his apostles that is impossible for a rich man to enter into heaven. OK so if the young man is rich he is automatically excluded from heaven. (Stay with me here as I'll explain more about this.) So they only way to Guarantee he could meet this requirement of "not being rich" was to give away all his thing and now he would be poor, of course, i.e. not rich so now he can get into heaven. Now Jesus didn't say this was the best course of action, only that in order to guarantee entry into heaven since he was already keeping all the commandments he just needed to be poor to meet get the free pass so to speak. Now going back to when Jesus was telling his apostles that it was impossible for a rich man to get into heaven, his apostles asked him "then who can be saved?" Jesus replied that with God all things are possible. So how is it possible for a rich man to get into heaven. After studying this for a long time it appears to me that the way a rich man gets into heaven is by helping the poor. Of course, we know the bible has missing books in it. I have searched out and read these and even some Bible versions have different books in them. I have also looked at other possible sources of Gods word and even look to what the prophet Mohammed said I can't find something on the Christian side. Now looking at all these sources, it appears that God got upset at the rich people not paying attention to his invitation to come to the wedding feast (bible parable) that he sent his servants to give the poor the free pass AND then from what I have been able to determine he made the rule (remember what Jesus said that all things are possible with God) that a rich man cannot get into heaven unless a poor man speaks for him at the judgement bar after death. (while not conclusive, this may be why Catholics pray for people after they die.) This is why we are commanded by Jesus to visit the poor the sick and the afflicted and those in prison. These apparently are those who are considered poor in gods eyes. This is also why we are commanded to give alms, etc. (As far as I can tell the poor are anyone who cannot help themselves. (Think of the parable of the good samaritan that helped the man left for dead by the thieves as the perfect example.) So getting back to the best course of action for the young rich man, giving away all his stuff may not be the best course of action. Having riches is OK I believe if we use them to help other people. To illustrate the course we may want to take in life, I used to wondered why God allows evil people in the world, but this is a mistake to think like this I believe. He gives us our free will and we can choose what we do with it. Because of this, there is evil in the world BUT there is also good. So if we think along these lines he allows good also. The key is to be super good so we balance out the evil. Unfortunately, most people are just content to be "lukewarm" like Jesus mentioned. One caveat though is that once we decide to do good and not just be lukewarm, then Satan ups his game and tries to discourage us and keep us from doing good. So we need to have the Armor of God on when we decide to go into battle for the right. In your case, it appears that Satan is trying to place doubts in your mind. I found the way to overcome this is given by Jesus in the last part of the Lords Prayer where he says to say in your prayer (depending on your bible version) "lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory." I end most of my prayers with this and it appears to block satans ability to put these doubts into our minds. The other thing is what he told his followers, "pray always lest you enter into temptation". So anytime doubt comes into your mind, regardless of the source say a silent prayer. For me, this helps. As a former soldier, I wouldn't think of going into combat without my weapon and body armor. As a soldier of Christ put on the armor of prayer an go forth to do good and help people. Don't sell all your stuff; use it to do good. On the other hand, if you really feel the spirit is telling you to do this I would fast and pray about it for at least three days at a minimum. Fasting makes us more in tune with the spirit so we can learn Gods will for us. I have heard Gods voice through the spirit after a three-day fast so it worked for me when I had a life-changing decision to make. You may also want to take to your pastor, minister, spiritual adviser, etc. and get their input. I am also formerly OCD and had scrupe for many years so you may want to seek out help with this also. I found that a good vitamin supplement, eating whole foods, getting off the carbs and eating a high antioxidant diet or the Mediterranian diet helps your brain have the energy to deal with the confusion scrupe causes. Just my two cents from my experience. Hope it helps.