The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? Matthew 19:20
In Matthew 19:15-22, we read of the exchange between Jesus and the rich young man or the rich young ruler as he is referred to. Like many, he seems to approach in sincerity but the Lord’s answer required more than he wanted to hear.
It is important to note that, while he leaves sorrowful, we see in Matthew 19:18-19 he had done a lot of good in his life. We often want to rest on what we’ve done and not look ahead to what we can do, or better yet, we forget we still have room to improve. Philippians 3:14 states, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus”. I can always grow and improve in some aspects.
The young man, much like the Pharisee we read of in Luke 18, had indeed filled his life with some really good deeds, but doing some good is not sufficient. I’m not aware of many, if any, individuals in scripture who are described as having a better reputation than Cornelius. However, he still had to obey the gospel (Acts 10:47-48). The ideology that one simply needs to be a “good” person has misled so many. First of all “good” is a relative term and not what the Bible plainly requires. God wants faithful people (Rev 2:10), not just “good” people.
The young man also struggled with yet another common problem. His strengths had blinded him to his weaknesses. We get so concerned about our personal preferences in an endeavor that we forget to be complete in all facets of what we are doing. The great baseball player, Ted Williams, was so infatuated with hitting that many times, while in the field, he could be seen taking shadow swings instead of catching the balls hit to the outfield. Today as Christians, we can allow the same mindset to have a negative affect on us. I’ll never grow as I should (2 Pet 3:18) if I forget to truly look at myself and see what areas need addressed (2 Cor 13:5).
His problem became obvious. He loved his possessions above all else (Matt 19:22). The way to know we are not lacking is to give God first place in our heart. In Matthew 22:37 “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind”.
By Jason Barger