The Rich Young Ruler

And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother. And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up. Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved? And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God. Luke 18:18-27

Steps: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12

A man came to Jesus asking what he needed to do to inherit the kingdom of God and thus eternal life. Jesus asked the man why he called Jesus good? Jesus was asking if this man recognized Jesus as the Son of God and thus someone who could help him or was the man just asking for wisdom but not recognition of Jesus’ divinity. Jesus then told the man to do the last 6 commandments of the ten – the ones that pertain to our duties to our neighbors. The man said he had always done these things. Jesus, knowing the inventory of this man, then asked him about one more thing. Jesus told the man to go and sell all that he had, give the monies to the poor, and come and follow Him. When the man heard this he grew sad for he had a lot of money and he was not willing to give it up for God. Thus Jesus has revealed the very thing that was blocking his recovery. Jesus was God, He was able to do a complete inventory on this man and He chose to reveal the commandment of God that this man was breaking – the first commandment – You shall have no other gods before Me. Exodus 20:3. This man did not realize that to break one commandment was to break them all. James 2:10. God Himself, in Jesus, was informing this man what was holding him back from recovery and this man rejected the information. He held onto his riches and lost recovery. The disciples were shocked at this information, for they thought riches were a blessing from God. Jesus did not deny that riches were a blessing from God, but informed that if they did not give up their gods, they would be lost. God only could rescue this man, if he would choose to receive His help.

Prayer for Today: God, only You know what kinds of Gods are holding us in our addictive states. Please be merciful to us and reveal these things to us and give us the help we need to give these gods to You. We want to claim Your promise today, that what is impossible for man to do is possible for You to do. Thank You again for Your love and grace.