Once a religious leader asked Jesus this question: “Good Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?”
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “Only God is truly good. But to answer your question, you know the commandments: ‘You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. Honour your father and mother.’”
The man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.” When Jesus heard his answer, he said, “There is still one thing you haven’t done. Sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
But when the man heard this he became very sad, for he was very rich.
When Jesus saw this, he said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God!
In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle [the Needle's Eye Gate] than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!”
Those who heard this said, “Then who in the world can be saved?”
He replied, “What is impossible for people is possible with God.”
Luke 18:18-27
A friend of ours gave us a tin of biscuits as a gift and it says on it: "If something is missing in your life it's almost always a biscuit!" Of course it's a joke.. but... the guy in this passage had a craving for something eternal.
Jesus' encounter with a leader, who obviously had much wealth and possessions, is again a warning to us.
Although he strictly kept to the laws of Moses, he still felt he lacked something in life, otherwise he wouldn't have found the need to come to Jesus and ask such a question.
No matter how much we have materially, without knowing Jesus, we are truly poor, for only death and decay awaits!
That's where we need God-given insight to treasure things of eternal value above all.
If there is some one or something that I prize above Jesus, it is a hindrance and stumbling block to eternal life.
The rich guy actually asked the wrong question: "What thing must I do"!
Rather he should've asked who can "give" me eternal life.
This guy had a lot of self worth and confidence in his law-keeping. Indeed, he boasted about how he'd kept the commandments from his youth.
However, Jesus saw through the veneer of self righteousness and pinpointed the idolatry he had towards his money and possessions.
The guy chose rather to keep hold of the transitory in lost his grip on eternity..
Eternal life is a gift for those who accept their lack of self worth and put their WHOLE trust in Jesus.
John 3:16 AMPC
For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten ( unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.
Thought
Jesus made the impossible possible when He gave Himself for us
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