Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!”
“Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.”

--Parallel verses:
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭33‬
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

Sometimes — when life gets difficult, maybe a friend betrays us, or it looks like the things in this world that we have worked so hard for come crashing down — we need assurance.

I think this is the situation the disciples were in. They saw Jesus challenge the rulers of the day, most recently this rich young ruler. He might have seemed to have been a nice ally to have in the pending battle over truth with the Pharisees.

When we stand with The One who holds out the truth like a sword, he cuts down every argument that stands against it. And this can make us feel isolated and cut off from the normal channels of society.
And so it is, in this context, Peter, probably representing the other disciples, decides to do a “check in” with Jesus.

The statement: “We have left all we had to follow you!”, also has an implied question attached to it. It goes something like this: “If it is so difficult to enter the kingdom of God, what about us? We have left all we had to follow you!”

I must admit, my faith has faltered at times, and I have needed to ask God a “check in” question too at times. Here are a few I have asked:
1) “I have been serving you throughout school, standing up for the truth and leading friends to Jesus. So why would you take away my mom, my support, when I needed her most?”
2) “Why would my business fail when I was serving you, giving, and working so hard? We even brought up a troubled youth from California to help who was heading down the wrong path?”

We have to be OK with getting real with Jesus and asking the tough questions. Peter did here, David did throughout the Psalms, and we can too.

We also have to be patient in waiting for the answers. Sometimes they will totally surprise us and other times we may not fully understand on this earth.

We rest on his promise: we will receive two multiplied rewards-one in this life, and one in the next!

Lord thank you for Peter who asked good questions of you. Grow me in my honesty and boldness to ask good questions too! You are faithful now and in the end — that is enough for me!