Lacking One Thing

Scripture Reading: Luke 18:18-30

Today's Treasure: "When Jesus heard this, he said to him, 'You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me' " (Luke 18:22).

I know some real heroes of the faith. I'm sure you do too. Permit me to introduce you to one right now. Her name is Scotty Sanders. She is a beautiful and godly woman, several years my senior. We have the privilege of serving in the same church. Scotty has literally had it all—wealth, prestige, status. She knows celebrities from all over the world. People you and I only read about call her friend. Scotty's passion is inner-city missions. Day in and day out she pours her energy into lives without privilege.

"Why wouldn't she?" someone might ask. "After all, at night she can return to a mansion and her live-in maid." Nope. At night she parks her car in a dangerous area of Houston and returns home to a cracker-box apartment in a broken-down complex, right in the middle of the community she serves.

I am honored beyond description to call Scotty my friend. I know many wealthy people who serve God lavishly through their riches. Although I believe He always requires believers with wealth to be excellent stewards of what He's entrusted, He doesn't always require them to give up everything and live among the poor. But that's what Scotty began to sense Him saying to her. The sacrifice has been tremendous, but you will never hear a hint of martyrdom in Scotty's tone. I want to be standing there in heaven when God presents her with the mansion He's prepared. It's going to be something. But if I know Scotty, she'll move everyone with a lesser mansion into hers.

Luke 18:18-30 tells the story many of us know as "the rich young ruler." The man came to Jesus asking what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus first directed him to the law, but the young man claimed to have kept that. Christ's response to the rich young ruler's claim is best understood in Matthew 19:21: "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.' "

If this were a game show, the bell indicating the mention of the secret word would have just sounded. Eternal life with God demands perfection. Someone has to be perfect. Either us or someone who stands in for us. This man wanted so badly for it to be him. As good as he had been and as hard as he had tried, he was still lacking. Christ then stuck a pin in the rich young ruler's Achilles' heel: his possessions.

One of the primary purposes of this divine pinprick was to show the man he wasn't perfect, nor would he ever be. I really believe a second purpose may have been to offer an authentic invitation for the searching young man to follow Him. Remember, Jesus didn't have only twelve disciples. He had twelve apostles among a greater number of disciples. If the rich young ruler had done what Christ suggested, could he have followed Him? Certainly! He simply needed to lighten his load and be free of wealth's encumbrances. A truckful of possessions would have proved cumbersome.

I also believe Christ had a purely benevolent purpose for the seemingly harsh demand. Jesus looked at this young man and saw a prisoner. The man wasn't really the ruler. His possessions were. Jesus pointed him to the only path to freedom. Sometimes when our possessions have us, we have to get rid of them to be free.

Of course, Christ knew in advance what the young man would choose. When it comes right down to it, we all follow our "god." The ironic part of the story, however, is that the rich young ruler was grief stricken over his own choice. He walked away very sad or in Greek, perilupos: "severely grieved, very sorrowful."* Unless his heart changed somewhere along the way, he lived the rest of his life with all that wealth and an empty heart. The question would have haunted him forever: "What do I still lack?" (Matt. 19:20). Perfection or a perfect substitute. He had neither. He lacked Jesus.

I wonder if the man stuck around long enough to hear the rest of the conversation between Christ and His disciples. Christ said something like this: Yes, an eternal inheritance involves sacrifice here on earth, but whatever you lay down here for My sake, you will receive a hundred times as much in eternity (see Matt. 19:29).

Only God can change our value systems and truly show us what is lacking. Even when what is lacking is poverty, so that He might make us rich. Just ask my friend Scotty.

My beloved Jesus, I pray to be free from the binding love of wealth. Lord, You know all my weaknesses. You know how quickly I believe the lie that riches can bring me happiness and fulfillment. Even so, I cannot name one earthly treasure that even comes close to being as valuable as walking with You. I pray to drop whatever I'm clutching in my hands so that I may hold Yours. Replace my love for wealth with a tremendous love for giving. In Your glorious and mighty name I pray, Amen.

*The Complete Word Study Dictionary of the New Testament, Spiros Zodhiates, et al., eds., (Chattanooga, Tenn.: AMG Publishers, 1992).

Adapted from Jesus the One and Only, by Beth Moore, pages 247-253. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2002. Used by permission.