16 Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”
17 So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
18 He said to Him, “Which ones?”
Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ 19 ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
20 The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?”
21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Here stands a man before Jesus asking what he can "do" to get into heaven. How many times have you heard people (or yourself) ask that same question? We live in a world where we are conditioned to believe that you have to do something to get something(nothing in this world is free). The gift of God's love for free is so hard for us to wrap our heads around. Especially when God finds us in a life of sin when He offers it to us. But it is not about "doing"....instead it is about not doing. It is about surrender. With God it is always about submission, not accomplishments. But the part of this story that has always stood out to me is that this is the only recording (that I know of) of anyone who actually walked away from Jesus in the bible. Jesus offers Him the answers he seeks, but these were not the answers the man was prepared to hear. So the story says that "he went away sorrowful". Was he sorrowful due to not having a place heaven...or was he sorrowful because in that moment he realized that he didn't have possessions, his possessions had him.
This story says that the man had great possessions and Jesus asked him to sell them and follow Him. For us, as we read that we might think "how could you not? Just do it! It's Jesus!". However, I'll ask you what God has asked me many times in my walk with Him...what are you willing to lay down? For this man it a matter of selling everything because Jesus knew that is what consumed this man. I have no doubt if it would have been pride, or something else then Jesus would have said "lay down your pride and follow me". So what is it that Jesus would ask you to lay down if you really got honest with Him? And how many times have you or I said "I just can't lay that down right now God"? We all have something that God knows is "the thing" that has a grip on us. And it's not the grip He wants it to have. It might be the very thing that is preventing you from fully submitting to Him. The only way to find out is to get alone with God and seek the truth from Him...and then obey. Let Him show you how much better your relationship with Him could be if He could only get you to let loose of the very thing that has ahold of you.
The man walked away sorrowful because he knew that what Jesus had just asked for, he was not ready or willing or able to do. But had he just realized that what he was trading it for was SO much better, he would have gladly let lose of "stuff" and chased after Jesus. Whatever God speaks to you about, please know that chasing after God will be better than whatever happiness you think "it" is bringing you. Sometimes He calls us to let completely go of it...and sometimes He calls us to just put it in its proper place in our life. But not matter what that call is, the best thing you can do is be obedient.
God, thank You that Your Word is full of teachings that still apply today. Thank You that it is full of truth that we need to hear. Holy Spirit mend and mold our hearts to receive God's Word and apply it our lives. And give us the strength to make the tough choices when God calls us out....because what You have to offer is will always be far better. I love You and honor You with my obedience today. In Jesus name, Amen
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