ONE THING YOU LACK?

Saturday 8 February

Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”

So a previous physical regulation and command is cancelled because of its weakness and ineffectiveness and uselessness—For the Law never made anything perfect—but instead a better hope is introduced through which we [now] come close to God. Hebrews 7:18-19

You may be wondering how these two verses go together. When we read the story of the ‘rich young ruler’ we may think the main lesson is not to be attached to material things, but you would be wrong. There is an element of the young man’s reluctance to part with his wealth but it is not the main lesson that Peter through John Mark was trying to convey here.

So the question is: why did Jesus tell the young man there was one thing he lacked? When you read the entire story in Mark 10:17-22 it will become clear. Let’s start with his statement ‘good teacher what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus responds with why do you call me good? There is only one who is good and that is God’. What Jesus was alluding to here is when you know me as God, you will experience my goodness.

‘What must I do to inherit eternal life’ was his next question. Now don’t miss this next point. Jesus talked about the commandments but He never said that these commandments which were part of the law of Moses would bring this man eternal life. What was the man’s response? All of these I have kept from my youth’. Now I don’t know about you, but that seems like an exaggeration to put it lightly, that this young man never transgressed the law. Ever?

This shows two things. The Bible tells us that no one can be saved by the law even if what the young man said about keeping it was true. The other aspect is it showed his sense of self righteousness and self effort in the way he approached Jesus. Think about it. For those who came to Jesus reliant on his mercy and grace to help them, He treated them with mercy and grace. It all comes down the approach.

In the same way, because this young man based his righteousness on the works law to somehow qualify him for Jesus’ grace meant that his request had to be handled through the mechanism of the law. Let me explain. The law was designed by Moses as a fault finder to lead us to Christ. Remember when you broke the law in one area, you broke them all and so ‘every mouth would be stopped. In other words no one could say anything except ‘guilty’ when we are confronted with sin which is the strength of the law. Praise God for being justified in Christ and declared ‘not guilty’!

When it comes to the law ‘there is one thing you lack’ where grace says ‘you have all you require’ This is the fundamental difference between law and grace. If the young man had come to Jesus in humility and not tried to qualify himself or earn his appointment, he would have been treated under the parameters of grace as many others were in the gospels and the story may have been completely different.

So how are you going to live your life? Will it be by works or grace? When it comes to others; are you going to deal with them according to the law or according to grace? Do you continue with an abolished entity that will always say to you and others ‘there is one thing you lack’, or will you learn to use the ‘abundance of grace’ that is afforded you to be able to say ‘I have everything I require’ for life and godliness.

There is a better hope in Christ far above and beyond the accusation of the law. My encouragement to you is go with grace. After all, grace that is reality came by Jesus Christ.

APPLICATION

Read the story of the rich young ruler and make a decision to act upon every situation from the perspective of His grace, not law.