A greater requirement

Matthew 19:21-22
21Jesus said to him, "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." 22 When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

We see here a sincere young man who comes to Jesus. This man, like many of us wants to know what deeds he needed to perform in order to save his soul. He might most likely have come with a certain degree of self assurance since he believed that has been good at keeping the ten commandments.

Jesus sees his heart and says, "If you would enter life, keep the commandments". The young man admits that he has been keeping all these from his youth but he still felt that he lacked something.

Jesus, who sees every man's true condition loved this young man's honesty. The Gospel of Mark says that Jesus looked at him and loved the young man. But that did not mean, that he would flatter this young man and send him on his way!

Jesus says, "you lack one thing - go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."

It was not that Jesus was opposed to this man having wealth. But Jesus saw that this was a young man who was possessed by his riches to an extent that it held him back from truly following God. In other words, this young man had kept all the commandments but was not able to keep the first one i.e to love the Lord his God with all his heart and mind and all his strength.

Religion teaches us to many good things. But we miss the point many times - God is interested more in offering ourselves to Him than in what we want to offer him.

Let's examine our hearts. Do we truly love God or do we love his gifts more?

God Bless!