The rich young man was a sincere man, who came to meet Jesus to ask him what he must do to make eternal life .
Mark.10.17 – “Good Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?”
The young man certainly seemed genuine enough in his initial question to Jesus. He fell . But Jesus must have quickly seen through the question into the man’s heart, because the Lord wasted no time showing the man he was wrong to think he could gain eternal life by doing the “right stuff.”
After establishing that the man was blameless in the more “traditional” commandments, Jesus put His finger on what was really the key issue for the rich young ruler:
“Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
With the heart of the matter laid wide open before him, the man went away sad because he couldn’t let go of his wealth—even to inherit eternal life!
At its root, the gospel is not about doing good deeds or obeying commandments or even giving away our money. The gospel is about surrendering our lives to Jesus and gaining the only life we can truly have, anyway. What might you still be clinging to that is keeping you from surrendering your entire life to Jesus?
At its root, the gospel is not about doing good deeds or obeying commandments or even giving away our money. The gospel is about surrendering our lives to Jesus and gaining the only life we can truly have, anyway. What might you still be clinging to that is keeping you from surrendering your entire life to Jesus?