If Jesus came to me in person, how likely would it be that He would ask me to sell my possessions because He saw they were the center of my heart?

16 Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"  17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments." 18 “Which ones?" the man inquired. Jesus replied, "'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'" 20 “All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"  21 Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." 22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. 23 “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

INSIGHT:   It seems to me that this young man fell victim to self-righteousness and the love of money.  He feels self-righteous because he has kept the whole law and seems to think he has now earned eternal life, apart from Christ and apart from having a new nature (born again).  We must remember that the new covenant demands circumcision of the heart (internal righteousness), not the flesh (external).  Although he has kept the whole law, he still has the same old heart and money loving nature of the worldly, and Jesus knows it.  When Jesus confronts this, he chooses his money god over Jesus and eternal life.  It makes God jealous when we have our needs met by our money, rather than Him, and He will not compete. When you have money, there is no need to live by faith in God, you can just look to the bank account.  Therefore, Jesus said it is virtually impossible for the rich to go to heaven.  You can’t come to Jesus unless you are willing to give up everything (Lk 14:33) and giving up wealth is one of the hardest things because it is our first natural god.  Therefore, it takes an act of God to do the impossible of opening our eyes. Wealth can be such a seductive trap, and the Bible says the desire to get rich plunges men into ruin and destruction (1 Tim 6:9). We are to serve God and use money, but we can’t do that without a brand-new nature.  Being born again, surrendering to the Spirit of Christ, and receiving His grace (power) in us, is what makes the impossible, possible.

Today, if you don’t like this hard teaching of Jesus, you don’t have to walk away sad like the rich young man did.  Instead, you can just drive across town or click to a new video to hear a different gospel, and a different Jesus who says, you don’t really have to give up everything, you get to have your cake and eat it too.

Let us also face the fact that God’s standard of rich is not our standard of rich, or the what the world calls rich.  Don’t let yourself off the hook by saying, Bill Gates is rich, but you are not.  I lived in India and when I came back, I told people that the homeless in the US are rich compared to many who live in India.  Imagine how many of us, by God’s standard, are richer today, than the rich man in this passage.  Did he have a car that would take him comfortably anywhere he wanted?  Did he have a TV, a computer, a smart phone, a bicycle, a nice comfortable bed, running water, a nice hot shower, and a clean toilet all right in his house?  Did he have fancy windows with screens on them to keep out the bugs?  Did he have central heat and air?  Did he have a pantry filled with a huge variety of food?  What about a refrigerator that would keep those foods for weeks and a freezer that would keep his meat for months?  Did he have electric kitchen appliances to prepare his food, a microwave to heat it, in minutes? Did he have the medical care you have, the eyeglasses you wear, or a medicine cabinet with all kinds of pain relievers and ointments for his ailments?

There is no way around this very demanding teaching, without a dreadful ending.  The Jesus of the Bible demands all, and in return He gives us all, if we follow Him into it by faith!  Have you consciously, willfully, given up everything in your life and heart to the Lord your Master, who offers you eternal life in exchange?