Luke 18:18-25 (ESV)
And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
Wealth is a two-edged sword. On the one hand, wealth gives us the ability to navigate life in a way that certainly is better than no wealth. But the other hand wealth can kill us and bring us into the wrong priorities. In the above text we see that one young man thought that he had really done what God wanted and that should entitle him to eternal life. He had certainly shown his love for God for keeping so many of God’s commands. But when Jesus told him to seek all he had to give to the poor, the man’s true heart shown through. The love of money corrupts our decisions for life:
1 Timothy 6:10 (ESV)
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
God intends for us to be fully committed to Him through faith in His Son, Jesus. This man had someting else in his heart. He had covetousness in his heart. He wanted to have his cake and eat it too. But in truth, when we love God with all our heart, soul and mind, we need nothing else. Everything else just cuts through as a sword and separates us from God.
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