“All these (God’s commandments) I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?” (Matt. 19:16) These were the words of the rich young ruler who ran up to Jesus, knelt before Him, and asked what he should do to inherit eternal life.
Jesus went through many of the commandments, “do not commit adultery, do not lie, do not steal, do not murder, honor mother and father, love your neighbor as yourself,” of which the rich young ruler said, “all these have I done.” Here the young man states that he has been doing all of the right things since he was a youth.
Jesus loved this young man and He told him that he lacked one thing. Jesus told him to go and sell his possessions, give the money to the poor, and to come and follow Him. Jesus told him he would have treasure in heaven. Why did Jesus tell him to do this?
The young man wanted to know what he needed to do. Jesus gave him something to do, but it was something that he truly didn’t want to do, because his wealth and possessions were more important to him than to give them up to follow Jesus. Jesus revealed what was in the heart of this young man, who thought his performance of keeping the laws and commandments since he was young, and perhaps he thought his wealth and stature in the community was proof of his “good and righteous” living.
This young man knew he needed something because he ran, knelt, and asked Jesus for the answer. Did he want reassurance from Jesus that he was righteous and he would have eternal life? How many of us think that we are going to heaven because we live a “good” life and we do “good” deeds or we are very “religious?”
Compare this young wealthy ruler with Zaccheus who climbed a tree to see Jesus when people were all around Him. Zaccheus was a tax collector who made his money off the people and he was hated by them. He cheated them out of their money because of his position as a tax collector. When Jesus went to have dinner with him in his home, Jesus didn’t tell him to do anything with his wealth, but Zaccheus had a change of heart and said in Luke 19:8-10:
8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
What a difference. Jesus looks on the heart and He wants us to have a change from the inside out. Jesus came to let us know that we are all lost without Him. We can’t earn our way to heaven or be good enough.
Read the rest here: https://litwithprayer.substack.com/p/the-rich-young-ruler?sd=pf