Two opposite ways to hit bottom

After having written about why it's difficult for the rich to get to heaven, I thought about what is the opposite of this in some ways.

There is an often an experience for the rich of having hit bottom, and then functionally learned absolute dependence on themselves. On the flip side, Jesus us told us to “sell what you have.” Even if this was in the context of talking to a rich man, it has instructive value for everyone.

What if we actually did that? What if we actually sold everything we had?

This would be its own form of hitting bottom, but this time with an entirely different purpose. Now, instead of learning self-reliance, it would be for the purpose of learning dependence on God.

What's interesting is the sequence of Jesus' statement in the context. It's not as though he tells us to sell all that we have so that we can follow Him and have treasure in heaven. The treasure in heaven comes first from selling and giving, and then we are more free than ever to follow Him. We would have fewer distractions in our lives.