Young and rich sounds like you have it made.. But the guy who came to Jesus in Luke 18 had a problem.
He wanted to know what he needed to do to deserve making it into heaven. After Jesus rattled off several of the commandments, the man confidently replied that he had kept all of them since childhood.
At that point, he probably wanted Jesus to pat him on the back and say, "Wow! You are some dude! Here's your all-expense paid ticket to heaven."
Then he could go off in his self-satisfied way and feel good about himself with no worries about his eternal destiny.
But Jesus wanted to get him off his works trip -- jar his thinking so that he would never be self-satisfied again. Jesus said he lacked only one thing to be perfect: He told him to sell everything he had, give it to the poor, and become a Christ follower.
The young rich guy was flabbergasted. He never expected in a hundred years to hear that.
Jesus deliberately chose something that was impossible for him to do (in his present spiritual condition), so he could quit trusting in his own works and surrender himself to the God who could help him.
So what about you and me? Do we get self-satisfied sometimes in our own spirituality? Maybe God is challenging us with something that is impossible for us to do in our present spiritual condition. Maybe He wants us to surrender everything to Him in humble obedience so He can work the impossible through us.
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